Eyes Wide Shut
by NecroLiv01
Summary: Kizami x Reader story. You wake up from a nightmare to find that time has reversed itself. You're reliving yesterday all over again, except something isn't quite right... Rated M for violence.
1. The Beginning

**A/N: This is a Kizami x Reader story.****[Name] = Insert your name.**

**I can't seem to get Corpse Party out of my mind, so I wrote a story. This is an AU Corpse Party story, but the characters will be - to the best of my ability - in character. Specifically, Kizami. Keep that in mind while reading.**

**I also want to mention that it starts off a bit slow compared to what is to come. I've already written many chapters of this story and the pace will speed up soon.**

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You laid in bed, watching the shadows from the trees outside the window dance on the wall. You silently prayed that tonight you'd get a decent night's sleep but highly doubted it. For the past few weeks, you'd had nightmares that completely engulfed you in sleep, but you couldn't remember them when you woke up. A flash or two of the nightmare – the same, recurring nightmare – came back to you, causing a shiver to go down your back.

Red. It was the only thing you could clearly remember seeing: a dark, blood-colored red. But even just that was enough to scare you.

"Come on, [Name]," you sigh, pulling the covers up to your nose. "Get a hold of yourself! It's nothing but a dream…"

You'd been telling yourself this over and over again since the dreams began, but you never fully believed it. There was something odd about the dreams and how you could never remember them. It was as if they were happening for a reason. Maybe your brain was trying to subconsciously tell you something…?

Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath to calm down. There was no way you'd get any sleep in a panic and tomorrow was a really big day: your mom was getting re-married. Your dad had died in a car accident when you were little and your mother had never been with anyone else until just recently. She met your soon-to-be step-father at the carnival that came to town once a year and you couldn't be happier with her choice. You'd thought that a new man coming into your life would spell trouble – what if he tried to act like your real dad? – but it didn't. Now, you felt a little excitement over the wedding pass through you.

_At this rate, I'm never going to get to…what…? _Your thought drifted off as you felt a change in the air. Your blanket was suddenly much colder, feeling as thin as a sheet. It felt rough and, taking a deep breath in, you realized it smelled musty.

Your eyes popped open of their own accord and you immediately realized you were no longer in your bedroom. Instead, you seemed to be in an old, dilapidated room, with holes all in the floors and cracks in the walls. Looking around, you came to the conclusion that you were in an infirmary – one that had closed down a while ago, by the looks of it.

"I'm dreaming," you whispered to yourself. "I'm totally dreaming."

Sitting up, you realize that you are lying on a cot in the corner of the room. Your breathing becomes ragged as you wonder how you got in such a place, how your brain could ever come up with something so…unsettling.

You stand up, realizing that you now have shoes on. "Yes…" You begin saying. "This is most definitely a dream. Where did these shoes come from?"

Taking a step, you hear a sticky sound, like stepping in an old puddle of soda someone spilled. You weren't expecting that, so you took another step before coming to a stop. Looking down, you found that there was something spilled on the floor, but it was so dark that you couldn't make out exactly what it was.

As you leaned down closer to inspect the liquid, a giggle erupted within the room, filling the complete silence up. You turned around to find a little girl…or, she looked like a little girl. But she had a weird glow surrounding her…

You jumped back immediately. "S-stay away!" _It's a ghost… _Your mind began. _An honest-to-goodness ghost! How is this possible?_

But the girl wasn't listening. She was draped in a dark red dress with what looked like tears in it. Her long black hair complimented the color of the dress, but the way it made her look made your stomach churn in terror. Before you knew it, a large smile was plastered to the girl's face and she was looking right at you.

_Dark red... _you thought. _Her dress is...the color of blood._

"You'll do the charm for me, won't you?" she asked. You could tell that she was trying to look as innocent as possible, but you weren't stupid. You knew that looks could deceive and you had an awful feeling about this girl. "I want to play with you…and your friend."

"My friend?" you asked, forgetting yourself for a moment. None of this made any sense. You had to be dreaming, but…it didn't feel like a dream. "What are you talking about?"

At that exact moment, the little girl looked at the door to the room and smiled again before disappearing. You leaned against the cot, trying to catch your now-ragged breath. Because of this, you didn't hear the door open until it was too late.

You felt a presence behind you, coming closer, but every one of your muscles locked up with fear. You found yourself paralyzed, wondering what – or who – was coming up behind you. What were they looking to do?

"Hello?"

The voice was deep, obviously male. It didn't sound hostile at all. In fact, it sounded as if whoever was behind you was simply curious about you. This shattered the ice of fear that had paralyzed you, allowing you to whip around as fast as you could.

When you saw him, your mouth fell open of its own accord. This guy was…a hunk. Like, make you start to drool, total freaking hottie, hot. You silently wondered how exactly your brain worked. One minute you were dreaming about a freaky ghost-girl in a creepy, forgotten infirmary, the next you were standing before one of the most handsome guys you'd ever seen in your life. _Is my brain trying to give me a knight in shining armor? _You wondered.

The young man was pretty tall, about six feet if you had to guess, and slim. He was wearing a school uniform, but his blazer was draped across his shoulder instead of on his arms and his long, white, button-up shirt was untucked, the arms rolled up to his elbows. The first few buttons at the top of his shirt were wide open, revealing a bare, muscular chest. He had shaggy black hair that looked like it had a blue tint to it and deep, brown eyes that sparkled. You decided you liked the turn this dream was taking...

"Wh-who are you?" you asked, your heart shuddering hard in your chest.

With a small smile, he answered, "I'm Kizami Yuuya. I apologize if I've scared you. I've been trying to keep quiet so others won't hear me, especially those ghosts…"

It seemed almost as soon as your heart began kicking into third gear, it stopped in its tracks again. "Ghosts…? You mean, that really was…?" You trailed off, your mind going blank.

"Are you okay?" Kizami asked, stepping toward you. "Did you…just arrive here?"

You look up from the floor when you see Kizami move toward you out of the corner of your eye. Without thinking about it, you moved backward, out of his reach. A small frown appeared on his face, but he stopped coming toward you, which made you feel better. "I… I don't know where _here _is!" You exclaimed suddenly, feeling light-headed. "I don't know what's going on. Do you know where we are?"

Another small smile played on Kizami's lips. "I do."

You thought he would explain things to you, but he didn't speak another word. Feeling awkward in the sudden silence, you ask, "Well?!"

Before you knew it, you were in Kizami's arms, his lips lightly brushing against your ear as he whispered, "Heavenly Host Elementary School. Come find me later."

A sudden bright light exploded outside of the room and –

You sat up in bed. In your _own _bed. A flash of lightening had just lit up your whole room, the thunder sounding seconds after the flash. That's probably what woke you up, you thought. You looked down to find that every inch of your body was covered in sweat and your hair was sticking up in every direction. You laid your head in your hands and struggled to catch your breath, your mind reeling.

"What…the hell…was that?" you breathed. As you thought back, you realized that a lot of the details of the dream were already disappearing from your memory. You couldn't remember how big the room you were in was or just how tall that guy…what was his name again? Groaning, you turn over to your side table, where you keep your lamp and dream journal. Just as you are about to pull the chain on your lamp, something outside the window catches your attention…

For a moment, you sit completely still, wondering whether or not you should look at it. One time, when you were ten, you went to stay over at a friend's house one night. You were woken up in the middle of the night by your friend's older sister, who said she'd heard something strange outside. Handing you an aluminum bat, your friend and the rest of her family – her older sister and grandmother – walked into the living room.

You eventually followed them, but they'd already started going through the rest of the house, checking all the windows, leaving you by yourself. As you sat there, a feeling of unease came over you and the hairs on your arms stood on end. Somehow knowing exactly what was happening, you slowly looked toward the back door, which was completely made of glass…

…and locked eyes with a strange man, standing on the back porch to look in.

You've had a problem with uncovered windows from then on. Luckily, your friend's dog caught the peeping tom and hurt him bad enough to keep him away. The next morning, you and your friend had gone outside to play and found a blood trail leading down her driveway. Examining her dog, you found blood on his muzzle, confirming your theory that the dog had gotten the strange man.

But as you sat in bed, half-turned toward the window, you froze completely. The first thing you thought was, _why are my blinds drawn up? I _never _leave them drawn up… _Which was closely proceeded by, _what do I do? If there's someone standing outside my window, watching me, what's going to happen if I look over at him?_

Your eyes felt like they moved at the pace of a snail, but you didn't care. You were so scared you could barely think straight. Finally, they came upon the window and –

"AHHHH!"

A scream burst its way out of your mouth before you could stop it. Indeed, in the window stood the figure of a man, who was looking in on you. As quickly as you could, you reached over and turned your lamp on, eyes going straight back to the window. You saw a quick flash of a blackish-blue color before the figure completely disappeared. A shiver made its way down your back and you suddenly realized your teeth were chattering. What in the hell was going on?

Suddenly, your door burst open. A small squeak came out in response as you jumped up off the bed. You were ready to fight or flee in an instant, thinking that whoever it was at your window had somehow made it into your bedroom.

But it was only your mom.

"Mom…" you moaned, feeling your body sag in relief.

She quickly pulled you into her arms, pulling you to a sit on your bed. "What happened, sweetheart? Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yeah," you breathed, catching your breath now that you felt safe again. "It was so…weird, though. And freaky."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

You shook your head. It might have been better to talk about it, but you'd rather save it for a friend. You definitely didn't want to mention anything about the shadow you saw outside your room. It had to have been a figure of your imagination, you thought, and decided it would just worry your mom for no reason. "I don't really remember a lot about it. I just know it scared me."

Your mom stroked your hair as she rocked you back and forth. "Would you want to come sleep out on the couch? My bedroom is just a few feet away…"

A thought suddenly occurred to you and you pulled back from your mother, so you could see her face. "What time is it?"

"It's just after six, sweetheart."

"Mom!" you exclaimed, hopping up off the bed. "Go get back in bed right this instance! You need your sleep for the wedding."

Your mom laughed to herself and stood up to take your shoulders in her hands. "[Name], that dream must have really shaken you up. The wedding isn't until tomorrow."

"T-tomorrow?" you stammer, your mind racing. No, there was absolutely no way you'd gotten the days switched. You thought back to yesterday, when you picked up the wedding cake after school from a local café just down the road. "That's not right. Today is Saturday, the day of your wedding."

"Honey, are you sure you're okay?" your mom asked again, sticking the back of her hand to your forehead. "You seem really shaken up. I assure you that my wedding is tomorrow. I wouldn't forget that kind of thing, would I? And how can we have the wedding today without the cake?"

You just looked at your mom for a moment, completely puzzled. When you finally came back to reality, you ran off without thinking about it, going all the way to the kitchen. As soon as you made it through the door, you stopped dead in your tracks.

The cake wasn't there. It was supposed to be right there on the kitchen table, but it wasn't. Your hands went up to your face of their own volition and you murmured, "Am I still dreaming? Is this not real? It…can't be…"

You heard your mom's footsteps right before she spoke. "[Name]! What are you _doing_? Do you have a fever?"

You barely heard what she said, though. You were wrapped up in your own mind, pondering the situation. _This doesn't make any sense. I either have to be dreaming or… Could I have, somehow, dreamed about what would happen today beforehand? Like déjà vu? _

You knew it would take some convincing to get your mother to calm down, so you quickly thought of an excuse and sold it like a champ. "I'm fine. I think I was just having a case of déjà vu, that's all. I didn't get very much rest last night, either, so I'm a bit groggy. I remember now, today _is _Friday." Your mom gave you a puzzled look, but you continued talking before she could say anything. "Oh, that means I need to get ready for school! I'm going to be late!"

You took off like a lightning bolt to your room, quickly grabbing your uniform and heading into your bathroom, which adjoined your bedroom. The small, white and blue bathroom was always one of your favorite places. You would come in to take a hot bath when you were stressed, allowing the steam to work its magic on you. But there was no time for relaxation this morning.

You quickly took a shower, got dressed, and put your make-up on. Your uniform consisted of a white top with red cusps and a red collar, a red skirt, white mid-knee socks, and black slippers. Your student ID was pinned to the bottom-left corner of your shirt. As you looked in the mirror, you felt a sense of dread. _Is it just me… _you thought, _or do my eyes look…duller this morning?_

Your cell phone suddenly began to ring, causing you to jump. You physically gave yourself a shake before answering it. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you, [Name]?! We all agreed we would meet at the park at 6:30!" Your best friend, Hania, yelled at you.

You sighed, taking the bridge of your nose in between your index finger and thumb. Your head was beginning to ache. "I had…home issues. I'm sorry. I'll be there in, like, ten minutes, okay?"

You could practically hear the scowl Hania wore over the phone. "I'll let Rio know, but I don't think she's going to wait any longer than that, so hurry. And you _know _Rio will do the charm with or without you."

It was your turn to scowl. Ever since Ryota let it slip that he had a crush on you, Rio had had it out for you. It was no surprise that Rio was completely and totally Ryota's…but he wasn't hers. Any time a girl hit on Ryota, they risked getting fired at by Rio. She'd even been so cruel to one girl that she had to move away.

"I told you," you began, "I will be there as soon – huh?" You brought your phone away from your ear to look at it. Hania had hung up on you. That wasn't like her… Then again, she was around Rio. No telling what she'd be in for if she had stayed on the phone when Rio wanted her off it.

You didn't hang out with Rio because you wanted to, only because Rio happened to be friends with your friends. You and Hania usually stayed with Norio and Masayuki, while Rio, Ryota, and Mei hung out together. Occasionally, your group would switch things up and do something new, but it didn't happen very often.

You walked out the door to your bedroom and into the living room, where your mom was sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper. "[Name]?" she called.

"Yes?" you answered, turning to look at her.

She peeked out from behind the newspaper. "Would you please run by the store and pick up the stationary I ordered? They told me they will only hold it until the end of the day and if someone else wants it after that, it'll be gone."

"Mom!" you groan. "I'm already late meeting my friends. We had something planned this morning. I might not even make it as it is."

"It won't take long," she insisted.

You knew how this was going to turn out. If you kept putting up a fight, your mom would go on the offensive and threaten grounding – or worse punishment – if you didn't do it for her, which would, in turn, cause a giant fight. You'd be late to meet your friends, grounded, and feeling like crap. So you decided it was better to give in than to argue.

You quickly rode to the store on your bike, running inside. People were giving you funny looks, but you didn't care. You were in a hurry. You ran straight to the office, where you were given the package but informed that you'd have to pay for it at one of the checking lines. There were only two lines open and each one had at least five people in it.

_Why are there so many people here, today of all days? _you thought as you made your way into the first checking line. You felt a scowl set in your face, realizing that you would be late to meet your friends.

A sound at the cash register caught your attention, bringing you out of your thoughts. The cashier – a young woman with short, black hair that had pink tips – had her hands held out in front of her, backing away from the register. She called over a manager and you heard her stammer out an explanation as to why the register was sounding off.

"I-I have a customer who n-no longer wants an item. I t-tried to void it, but it j-just…did this!" The way the woman was acting made you guess that she was a new employee and was still learning how to use the register. The manager, a middle-aged man, proceeded to type something into the register, but it let out what sounded like an alarm.

_Ugh! _You felt your temperature rising as your frustration grew. _At this rate, I won't just be late to meet Hania and the others, but I'll be late for school as well…_

Just as your mood was about to plummet, however, a girl in uniform came from the back of the store and opened another line. You had already started walking over there before she made it to the register. You felt your mood completely turn around, hopeful that you could make it to meet your friends in the park.

The cashier rung up your package and placed it in a bag before taking your money. You quickly picked it up before waiting for her to return your change. She seemed to have a little difficulty counting the change, though, and you rolled your eyes in frustration.

Suddenly, you stiffened. When you rolled your eyes, you'd caught a glimpse of something in the window and it reminded you of the figure you'd seen outside your bedroom window earlier that morning. Your eyes had come to rest on the cashier, but you quickly made them dart back to the store's front window…

…and your own reflection stared back at you.

Relief washed through you and you were finally able to relax. There was nothing strange going on; it was just your imagination. _How could I have been so silly?_

You took your change from the cashier, thanked her, and hurried as fast as you could back home. Your mom was walking down the front steps as you neared your house and an idea struck you. Peddling as fast as you could, you didn't pull up to your house. Instead, you threw the package as best you could while maintaining the bike's steering. Surprisingly, it landed right at your mother's feet.

She looked up in surprise and you couldn't help yourself, you started laughing. When she blushed, it only made you laugh harder…until you ran into a bush. You found yourself in a heap on the ground before you even knew what was happening. From down the street, you heard your mother laughing hysterically.

"That's what you get for trying to scare me!" Your mother's tone was playful. "Love you!"

You groaned as you stood up, the places where you'd hit the ground sore. It didn't hurt very badly and you didn't think you'd hit the ground all that hard, so you brushed yourself off and hopped back onto your bike. "Love you, too!"

Without another second, you immediately rode to the park near the school, the place you and your friends had agreed to meet up in. Each of their bikes were locked up in the bike rack with chains, so you knew they were here. You hopped off your bike and chained it up along with the bikes of your friends. Then you proceeded to go into the park.

But you saw no one. "Hania! Norio! Masayuki?! Anyone here?" No answer. "Seriously, you guys, if this is a joke, just stop." Still nothing. Looking toward the field to your right, you noticed what looked like bags lying on the ground. Feeling a bit worried, you ran over to inspect the items…and found that they were your friends' bags.

"Rio? Ryota?! Mei! Anyone, answer me!"

But, as you would soon realize, there was no one there to answer you.

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**Told you it was a bit slow, but it picks up in the next chapter. I'd love to know what you think :)**


	2. Gone

**A/N: Forgot to say this last time, but I definitely don't own Corpse Party. Wish I did, though :P**

**I do want to explain something really quick because I don't want there to be any confusion as we progress. Because this is an AU story, events will be different. For example, characters will die in different ways than they did in Corpse Party. There's a reason for this and it will be explained much later in the story. So if anyone seems OOC for now, that will change later.**

* * *

"I've already told you everything I know," you repeated to the police, who probably didn't believe you. They'd asked you the same questions over and over again. "My friends and I made a plan to meet at the park this morning before school to do a ritual that one of my friends found on the internet. It was supposed to allow us to be friends forever. I was late, though, and didn't get here until about fifteen minutes before school started.

"When I did get here, I didn't see anyone around. But I found all my friends' school bags just lying on the ground in the field over there and their bikes are still here. I called you because it seemed like something bad happened."

With that, you put your head in your hands and started to cry. This day had been absolutely horrible. You had an awful nightmare that caused you to feel like you hadn't gotten any rest, you somehow got your days mixed up and flipped out on your mom, and on top of everything else, your friends had all vanished without a trace…

The police finally let you go home. It was now early in the afternoon, a couple of hours before school let out. You'd been given a pass by the principal as soon as he heard what had happened, so you didn't have to worry about school. But instead of going home, however, you decided to go to the café and spend some time by yourself. Sending a text to your mother to let her know where you were, you unchained your bike and made your way to the café.

You sat at your usual table, the one you usually sat at with your friends. For a long time, you nursed a coffee until a waitress approached you.

"Hello, are you [Last name] [First name]?" You simply nodded and she continued. "Will you be picking up the cake order for your mother?"

"Yes…" you answered, feeling completely out of it. You'd only been drunk once in your life and felt as though you'd had a couple of drinks. You were completely numb, not feeling anything as you followed the waitress to the counter to pay for the wedding cake.

Just as you were paying for it, you remembered that Hania was supposed to have her big sister help you get the cake home, but Hania was…gone…

Your eyes became wet, so you bit down on your tongue with just enough pressure to sting. You had to stay positive. They would show up any minute now, giving you some excuse as to why they'd disappeared. You kept telling yourself these things, but a hollow, uneasy pit churned in your stomach.

"[Last Name]?"

The waitress addressing you snapped you out of your thoughts. She had your change and receipt in her hands. "Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you very much."

You thought she would hand you your change, but instead she kept a hold on it, glancing out the front window quickly. "You know," she began, looking back at you, "the cake you've ordered is rather big. You won't be able to take it home on a bike, or even walking for that matter."

You nodded. "Oh, yes, I know. I was supposed to have a friend help me with it, but I don't know where she is…"

"Well, we have a van specifically for deliveries. If you'd like, we can drop it off at your house just after we shut down the café. There is an extra charge, however…"

You felt your muscles relax as a bit of stress left your body. You were by no means relaxed – your shoulders ached like crazy – but something good happening helped ease you. "That would be perfect! Thank you."

You paid her for the service, told her your address, received your two receipts, and retrieved your drink from the checking table. She assured you that the cake would be delivered to your house that afternoon before wishing you a good day. With that, you picked up your bag from your table and –

The hairs on the back of your neck stood up as a chill ran down your spine. You were being watched, it seemed. You were still bent over, bag in your hand, so you were looking at the floor. For the third time today, you saw a figure in the window out of the corner of your eye.

_No… _you thought. _This can't be happening. Not _again_. And not here! Am I going insane?_

You slowly lifted your eyes to the window to find your reflection staring back at you…with a familiar-looking guy standing behind you. He was looking directly into your eyes.

With a gasp, you whipped around as fast as possible, but no one was there. You turned around again to look at the window, but the young man's reflection had disappeared.

Everything around you disappeared as you stood there shaking, staring at your reflection. You felt the skin stretching tight around your knuckles as you held your bag in a vice grip. You felt like you'd lose control of your legs and fall any minute, but you prayed that didn't happen. The café was full of people and that would be so embarrassing.

So, instead, you made yourself sling your bag over your shoulder and walk straight out the door. You kept your composure as you began walking down the road, picking up your pace just a little. Everyone and everything you passed went by in a blur, but you weren't paying attention anyway. Soon, when you began passing fewer and fewer people, you picked up your pace to a jog. You had no idea where you were going, you just knew you needed to keep moving for a little while, allow yourself to clear your mind and just go.

When you finally came back to reality, you found yourself running down an old, dirt road. You came to a stop and looked around, finding everything to be unfamiliar. _Where exactly am I…?_

There were tall, dark trees everywhere around the road. All you could see either way was dirt road, forest, and sky. "What in the world…? I…I've got to be dreaming. Am I in some sort of coma, unable to wake up, dreaming of what my life would be like?" you murmured to yourself.

You grabbed your cell phone out of your pocket, thinking you could use the GPS to find out where you were, but you weren't getting any signal. You moved around in a circle, holding your phone high, but it didn't make any difference. You weren't going to be using the GPS, nor making any phone calls, for that matter.

You looked around once more. "Where do I go? Which direction do I take?"

You decided to take a few steps forward, looking closely to see if you'd missed anything. Sure enough, you thought you spotted a path jutting from the road up ahead. You neared it, praying it was a driveway.

It was, but it led up to a creepy-looking old house. It had to have been vacant as the grass was about two feet tall, all the windows were either broken or missing, and the whole thing seemed to sag. Everything about the place told you to turn around and forget about it. So you did.

But you didn't make it very far. You walked and walked, but absolutely nothing changed. The dirt road never ended and neither did the forest that surrounded it.

You turned around, hoping that going the other direction would lead back to town, but when you saw what lay behind you, your entire body froze up.

The driveway to the old house was only a few feet away. But that was impossible. You'd had to have walked at least half a mile down the road… You were about ready to collapse in the road when a noise assaulted your ears, breaking the silence you hadn't realized was overpowering before.

A phone. You were hearing a phone ringing and it was coming from inside the old house. You didn't understand – the place couldn't have had electricity, so how was a phone ringing?

Even though you were puzzled, your feet shot off at a run toward the house. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you'd thought _that phone call might mean salvation or despair for me… If it were to stop ringing… If I were to miss the call…_

It didn't take you long to make it up the front porch stairs and into the house. It was pretty dark inside, but you didn't need light to hear the phone. You followed the ringing sound as fast as you could while being cautious of your surroundings. Finally, you made it to the phone and picked up the receiver, putting it up to your ear.

"Hello?"

There was no sound from the other end. You asked again, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Turn…around…"

It was like an everlasting nightmare. Your blood ran cold as the receiver slipped from your grip and hit the ground. With a cross of your feet, you slowly turned around to find a full-length mirror. A glow emanated off of it, shedding a soft glow around you. The reflection in the mirror, however, did not show you or the room you were in. Instead, you saw the old infirmary you'd seen in your dream the night before.

Everything about the dream came rushing back to you and you involuntarily took a step back. As you did, the same little girl in the red dress appeared, looking straight into your eyes.

"You were supposed to come here and play with me…" she said, a frown on her face. "You are supposed to be here _now_. So why aren't you? Is there something…or someone watching over you?"

"Wh-who are you?!" you shrieked, officially flipping out. "How is this happening? None of this makes any sense!"

The little girl smiled, but it didn't look nice in any way. She began to laugh mischievously. "Oh, I get it now. This time is different… I get to play with you in a whole new way!"

As soon as she'd spoken the words, the mirror flashed a bright white before the image of the infirmary reappeared. The little girl was gone, but someone else was walking into the room. At first, all you could see was a shadow and you wondered if this was another ghost – or possibly a different kind of otherworldly creature. You started to take a step back, just in case, when the young man from the dream and the café window appeared.

"Kizami…" you whispered involuntarily.

At the sound of your voice, Kizami looked your direction. It looked like he was staring right at you, but his face furrowed with confusion. "Hello?" he called out, coming closer.

You didn't know what to do, so you did the first thing that popped into your head. "Um…can you hear me?"

Kizami came forward so that you could see him up close now. "Yes. Where… Oh!" It was as if he were peering through a window back at you, shifting forward so he could see you better. "How did you get in that mirror? Are you…a spirit?"

"No," you answered, shaking your head. "I'm…I'm not sure how we're speaking right now. Where are you?"

"If you aren't a spirit," he replied, ignoring your question, "how did you know my name?"

Your cheeks took on a pink hue as you thought back to your dream – specifically, the moment you first saw him and concluded he was a hunk. "I…I…" You sighed, feeling as if the weight of the world hung on your shoulders. You shivered as your mind raced, a draft rolling through the room. In an instant, you knew what you had to do. If you didn't, you might risk having a mental collapse.

"Today has been the weirdest day of my life," you began explaining to him, deciding that telling someone – anyone – the truth might help you feel a little better. "I went to sleep last night, Friday night, and felt like I woke up in…well, in that room. The one you're standing in."

Kizami wore a look of confusion as he glanced around the room. "Then how did you end up in there?"

"There was this little girl… She told me she wanted to play with me and my friend, but I didn't know who she was talking about…until you walked in the room." You held your breath, waiting for Kizami's response, but he only stared back at you, as if wanting to hear the rest. So you continued, "We spoke for a moment and you told me to come find you right before I woke up in my bed.

"Somehow, I woke up a day earlier. I don't know what is going on and I'm completely freaking out about it. Yesterday was Friday… I _know _that yesterday was Friday, but every calendar I've looked at today has said that _today _is Friday. I was supposed to meet up with my friends, but I was late and when I got there, they were all gone. And now… Now I'm in a strange house, in the middle of nowhere, and I have no idea how to get back home."

It all came out in a rush, as if you couldn't wait to get it off your chest.

Kizami thought about everything you said for a moment, bringing his hand up to his chin. He looked as if he were trying to model "The Thinker" statue. Eventually, he said, "You say you saw me in your dream?" You nodded. "And I told you to come find me?" You nodded again. "Well…maybe we're supposed to meet. I wonder…"

Without another word, Kizami reached out toward you. The mirror briefly flashed a white light and the next thing you knew, Kizami's arm had gone through the mirror, his fingers only inches from your body. You stood there, absolutely shocked, watching as his fingers danced. "How…?" you breathed, but you were interrupted.

Kizami suddenly let out a high-pitched scream, the sound bouncing off the walls around you to echo into your ears. Your body kicked into action of its own accord as your mind was still trying to work itself around this new situation. You flew forward, taking Kizami's hands in your own, not knowing what else to do.

Unfortunately, it seemed there was nothing you _could _do. With another bright flash of light, everything around you disappeared and you were left in darkness. It was so pitch-black that you couldn't even see your hand when you held it in front of your face. You could no longer hear or see Kizami, which worried you immensely.

_Why is this happening to me? _you thought, tears running down your face. _What did I do to deserve this?_

Wind suddenly began to whip around you and your stomach churned as if you were riding a steep rollercoaster downward. You knew you were falling, but you couldn't see anything. _Oh God… _you screamed in your head. _I'm going to die. I'm going to fall into this deep abyss and die!_

Almost immediately, the wind and feeling in your stomach stopped. You gasped for air, but couldn't find any. In a moment, you would suffocate. You felt yourself fall to your knees, but you still couldn't see anything in the darkness, so you had no idea what was underneath you. Your lungs felt as if they would burst and tears of pain rolled out of the corners of your eyes.

And then it stopped. The pain simply disappeared. You still couldn't breathe or see anything, though, so it didn't quell your fear. Your head felt as light as a feather and – feeling as if you were floating in a pool – you fell backward, into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Things are about to get crazy! I'm trying to upload a new chapter once a day, so check back tomorrow for an update.**

**Let me know what you think so far! :)**


	3. New Reality

**A/N: Once again, I don't own Corpse Party :( I have borrowed it, though. **

**On with the show!**

* * *

_Am I…dead?_

You'd just woken up, but you kept your eyes closed. The last thing you remembered was being suffocated, but you couldn't remember how or where it had happened. Had someone been choking you? If so, were they still around…?

You listened as hard as you could, trying to detect if there were anyone else in the room, and heard breathing. For a moment, you thought it was your own breathing, but you soon realized that it was someone else's.

You cracked your eyes open, taking a quick look around. As you did, you felt yourself begin to shake. You were in the infirmary of your dreams, laying on the floor. You could see curtains and what looked to be an old space heater in the middle of the room. There were cabinets, a desk, a sink, and some posters lined up against the wall to your left, but they weren't the only thing and they definitely didn't keep your attention.

Also to your left was Kizami, passed out cold on the floor beside you. His was the breathing you'd heard earlier. You sat up, bringing your hand up to your aching head. How in the world had you ended up here?

You looked around the room, truly taking in everything about it for the first time. Among the things you'd first noticed, there were also two cots behind you in the corner, lined up next to each other. The only other thing in the room was a chair, sitting in the diagonal corner of the room than the cots.

Your heart began to pump faster and faster in your chest as your fear began to grow. Nothing about this was right and this room definitely didn't give you a good feeling. In fact, it did just the opposite…

As you sat there, you noticed a change in the air, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. You looked at every inch around the room, but didn't see anything new. Then it dawned on you: you had _heard _something, not seen it.

Turning over to Kizami, you noticed that his breathing had sped up. He either had to be having a bad dream or he was awake and didn't want you to know it. Slowly, you scooted toward him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Kiza – "

Before you could finish, Kizami's eyes popped open, looking straight at you. You pulled your hand away, spooked by his reaction. He slowly sat up and looked around, rubbing the back of his neck. "What happened?"

"I don't know," you answered. "I don't really remember."

He looked you up and down, a frown on his face. "Have we met before? You look familiar, but…I can't seem to remember your name."

You felt your cheeks warm up and prayed he didn't see your blush. "Um, yes, we've met, but I never got to introduce myself. I'm [Last Name] [First Name], a student at [High School's Name], [Class]."

Kizami smiled and began to introduce himself, but you stopped him, letting him know that you already knew who he was. His eyebrow arched, as if he were trying to remember when he told you his name, before he turned his attention to the room. As he was faced away from you, you saw his body tense up.

"What is it? What's wrong?" you asked, suddenly afraid.

Kizami's shoulders relaxed again, almost as if he were forcing them to. "I just remembered…the mirror. I saw you in the mirror."

As soon as he mentioned it, everything came back to you. The creepy old house, the telephone, speaking with Kizami through the mirror before…

"What happened to you?!" you suddenly exclaimed, coming closer to him. "I heard you scream and I tried to help, but the next thing I knew, I was all by myself, in the dark…and I couldn't breathe…"

"You…tried to help me?" He sounded surprised. When he looked back up at you, you nodded, not knowing what to say. "I tried to touch the mirror, but my hands went straight through it. Then my entire body felt as if it were on fire. And then I woke up here."

You looked him up and down, but you didn't see any wounds. "You don't look hurt. How do you feel?"

He looked over his body, seemingly coming to the same conclusion you did: he wasn't hurt. "My head hurts, but it's nothing I can't handle. Could be worse, considering where we are."

"Speaking of…" you mumbled, looking around again. "Where exactly is this place?"

Kizami arched an eyebrow at you again. You found it a little funny that you seemed to puzzle him. Had you ever puzzled a boy before? You didn't think so. "Didn't you do the charm?"

"What charm…?" But as soon as you said it, something clicked in your mind. "Wait. My friends…" You gave yourself a moment to think things through, but there was no mistaking it. "Do you remember what I told you before? When we were speaking through the mirror?"

"About?"

"My friends!" Your heart was beginning to shudder in your chest as you realized what had happened. "We were all supposed to meet up this morning to do a charm, but when I got there, they were all gone… Kizami, you did a charm with your friends?"

You'd been looking at the ground as you thought things through, but you looked up at Kizami as you addressed him to find that he had been staring at you. The way he was looking at you made you think that maybe he hadn't heard you, but he answered, even if he sounded a bit distracted. "Uh, yes. My…classmates talked me into doing a charm with them. I think they only invited me to do it because I was around them at the time, but I agreed. We did the charm and then I woke up here."

Your heart sank even further as he confirmed your fears. The charm that your friends wanted to do must have been the same one Kizami and his classmates had done. The little ghost girl had told you that you were supposed to do a charm and come here to play with her. For some reason, you were meant to come here, and so here you were.

"I…I have to look for my friends. I don't know why, but I have this feeling that they're here…and that they're in trouble," you whispered, mostly to yourself, but Kizami answered you anyway.

"_We _are in trouble." Your head snapped up to look at him, a chill running down your spine. "This place is dangerous, especially if you stay in one place too long. We should get moving before anyone comes across us."

As Kizami got up off the ground, you found yourself unable to move. You looked up at him, fighting the tears that threatened to come to your eyes. "Before we go, I need to know where we are…what this place is. And what is so dangerous about it?"

Kizami sighed before explaining everything to you. "We're in…some sort of spirit dimension. It's in the shape of Heavenly Host Elementary School, where some gruesome kidnapping and murders took place. There are articles about it all over the place." He then proceeded to tell you about the ghosts in the school, the traps set up in the hallways, and the corpses that decorated the place.

You don't know how you did it, but you somehow made your wobbling legs stand you up and they held. What were you supposed to say about all of this? How could you say anything? None of this was possible and yet…here you were. So you decided to keep your thoughts to yourself and take a look around the school with Kizami.

"Well…" you began, not really knowing what to say. "You know a lot more about this school than I do. Would you mind if I stick with you?"

"Not at all," he replied with a smile. "We'll look out for each other."

You smiled back at him. "Thank you so much, Kizami."

_My hero… _you thought. This time your knees were wobbling for a very different reason.

You followed Kizami out into the hall and immediately began to cough. The stench in here was unbearable. As you tried to catch your breath – very hard to do when you don't want to breathe at all – Kizami put you behind him. "Stay here," he told you before walking briskly down the hall.

You wanted to do the exact opposite and follow him, but – for the life of you – you couldn't get your legs to obey your brain. So you did as he said and waited, listening for any sound you could make out. If there really were other people and…ghosts in here, you needed to be on your guard.

It didn't take Kizami long to return, a frown on his face. "I found where the smell was coming from. I don't think you want to come this way…"

You were curious about it, but your brain scolded you for it. _[Name]! This is not the time to be curious! Do you remember where you are?! Curiosity is not a good thing to have right now…_

"Okay," you said instead of inquiring about it. You looked the other direction down the hallway, seeing a staircase at the end. "Should we go downstairs, then?"

Kizami nodded, telling you to stay close to him, before making his way down the hallway. You quickly ran over to him, trying to do as he said and stay close. You noticed that the stench that was assaulting your nose slowly faded the closer you got to the stairwell.

The rest of the building looked a lot like how the infirmary did: old and dilapidated. There were holes all over the floors and cracks through the walls. But, strangely, the place _felt _solid. There was something towering about this building, something not quite right. You felt as though these halls had seen decades of misfortune, adding to its power, but you had no idea why you felt that way.

There was nothing of significance in the stairwell, so the two of you continued to make your way through the building. You found yourself in another hallway that turned left at the end. So far, you hadn't seen any corpses, but you knew they were around here somewhere. After all, you were pretty sure you'd just smelled one upstairs.

As the two of you rounded the corner, you saw what looked like the entranceway to the school ahead. Forgetting about Kizami's order to stay close to him, you darted ahead to check it out.

"Kizami!" you yelled as you made it to the front door. You wrapped your hands around the door's handles, but it wouldn't budge, not even an inch. "Kizami! I need your help!"

"It won't budge." You jumped, Kizami's voice – which had come from right behind you – scaring you. You slowly turned to look at him and he met your gaze. "What did I tell you about staying close?"

He looked angry and, for a few seconds, that was all you could comprehend. _Have I done something to upset him? I don't understand… _

Suddenly, Kizami moved right up next to you, his hand slamming into one of the exit doors. You'd still been facing them, your hands on the handles, but you quickly spun around as he advanced. You were scared. He loomed over you, his voice coming out in a low whisper. "You need to run. Don't look around, don't stop until you find somewhere to hide. I'll find you."

You were completely and utterly confused. What was going on? Kizami was acting strange. One moment he seemed like he was angry at you, the next he sounded like he was trying to protect you. Once his words hit you, though, you blanched. He wanted you to leave him? But what if he _didn't _find you? You opened your mouth to voice your thoughts, but Kizami never gave you the chance.

He grabbed your arm and started pulling you, his eyes locked on yours the entire time. He was walking backwards, not paying attention. You could tell that he was very, very serious now. "_Go._"

He turned to the side, allowing you access to the hallway. Before you could even tell your legs to go, you were running. You did exactly as he said, keeping your eyes to the floor ahead of you as you ran, but you still caught a small glimpse of a blue glow coming from the corner of the room. That was all you saw before you were through the doorway and into the hallway.

You glanced up quickly to access your surroundings and decide which way to go. The hall went straight ahead before branching off to both the left and right. You ran down the hall as fast as you could without falling in any holes. You briefly remembered Kizami talking about traps in the hallway and slowed your pace just a little. Kizami had told you not to look around, but that was impossible in this place!

When you came to the end of the hallway, you looked both directions, finding the closest door near you was to your right. You ran at it, hopping over a hole in the ground before slipping inside.

The darkness in the hallway was nothing compared to the darkness in this room. You could do nothing but stare blankly into the dark as your eyes adjusted, not moving a muscle. The silence in the room was deafening, your ears almost immediately ringing. You noticed a smell that hadn't registered when you walked in the room. It wasn't suffocating like the smell upstairs was, but it definitely wasn't pleasant. Your head began a steady throbbing and you wondered if this aroma had something to do with it…

Finally, you could make out shadows in the classroom. There was a very, very faint amount of light coming into the room, but you couldn't tell where it was coming from. It seemed like it was coming from everywhere at once. As your gaze went over the entire classroom, you gasped.

Almost half of the floor was gone and hanging from the edge of what was still there was a corpse.

"Oh…my…God." You hadn't meant to speak, but you did it without thinking. _That's not real, right? _You slowly edged closer to it, trying your best to make out the details in the dark. Before you knew it, you were crouched over it, your face less than a foot from its head.

There seemed to be some sort of very large nail going through the skull, effectively nailing the corpse to the floor. Its body dangled over the hole, clothes nearly torn to shreds. From the looks of it, it had to have been a female, most likely a high school student. And it was very, very real.

On the inside, you were completely freaking out. You wanted to back away and close your eyes or turn around or…just anything to stop looking!

_No! I don't want to look anymore! Stop it!_

But your body wouldn't take your brain's orders. Before you could stop yourself, you reached out slowly and touched the tip of the nail. To your amazement, it felt real as can be, if a little greasy.

_Why am I doing this?! I need to just stop! Stop and leave this room!_

You brought your hand back from the nail and rubbed two of your fingers together, examining the sticky substance that now coated them. It was…

_Blood? Is this…? Oh my God! This is blood!_

You suddenly regained control of yourself and stood up a little too quickly, the blood rushing to your head. You could see nothing but white as spots danced across your vision, but that didn't stop you from rubbing your hand on your skirt. You didn't even think about the fact that the blood would be clearly visible on your skirt – a dark red blob visible over your just-lighter red skirt. You just wanted to get it off your fingers as fast as possible.

"[Name]?"

With a few stars still dancing in your eyes, you quickly whipped around to find Kizami standing there, watching you. "K-Kizami! I…I didn't hear you come in."

He frowned, his eyes flicking over to the corpse behind you and back to your face. "What were you doing?"

"I didn't know what was going on and I was scared, so I did what you said. I ran and hid in this classroom and…I tripped." You were going to tell him the truth, but you stopped yourself at the last second. He'd think you were crazy if you told him that you'd been entranced by a corpse! "I almost fell, so I grabbed for anything that was near me…and she was near me."

The lie came off of your lips so, so easily you were almost scared. You'd never been so deceptive in your life, but it kind of impressed you. You did, after all, realize you had a new skill. Although you were still shaken up over your actions, you felt a tad bit more confident. You'd get through this place. If you could face a corpse – _touch _its _blood _– then you'd be able to handle just about anything.

"You…don't seem injured?" Kizami said, interrupting your inner dialogue. He was looking you up and down, almost as if he didn't believe you.

You involuntarily took a moment to examine yourself and flushed when you realized you were acting guilty. "No, I fell on my knees, but I didn't hurt myself. The only thing…" You let the sentence trail off as you realized you didn't know how to finish it. You were going to tell him that the only thing that happened was you got some blood on your hand, but you didn't know if you could form the words.

Kizami's eyes narrowed at your skirt. You felt your face blush as you momentarily thought he was checking you out, but it disappeared almost as quick as it had appeared. You realized that he was looking at a significant spot on your skirt. "You have blood on you," Kizami said matter-of-factly.

"I-I got some on my hand when I…grabbed her. I wiped it off on my skirt without even thinking about it."

Kizami just stood there looking at you for a moment and you thought he might not believe you, but then he nodded. "I'm glad you're okay."

You gave him a smile and replied, "You seem fine, too. I was worried. What happened back there?"

Kizami explained to you that the ghost of a little boy had appeared in the entranceway as soon as you ran through the door. He'd seen a girl being chased by ghosts who had the same weird glow as the ghost boy and knew that he was dangerous. That was why he'd gotten so close to you earlier – so that he could shield you from the ghost.

"You really need to stay with me from now on," he told you, looking straight into your eyes. "It's not safe for you to go running off on your own, [Name]."

"I understand," you replied, nodding. "I won't run off anymore. Thank you for protecting me."

He smiled in response, patting you on the shoulder. "Let's get going. We've spent enough time here."

* * *

**I cannot wait to upload the next chapter! Just know that things get super interesting! :D**

**As always, let me know what you think :)**


	4. Disheartened

**A/N: This is where it starts to get good :)**

**I don't own Corpse Party, except in my alternate reality.**

* * *

You'd searched almost every inch of the school building, but you and Kizami never came into contact with another soul. You stood in the 3rd floor west hallway, outside of a locked reference room. It was the last place for the two of you to look and when you'd found out it was locked, your hopes crashed to the ground.

You sagged against the wall. "What do we do now?"

Kizami opened his mouth to answer, but you'd never know what he was about to say.

"AHHHH!"

You shot up off the wall, your entire body going tense. The scream had come from downstairs, most likely the 2nd floor from the sound of it, and you recognized the voice. You'd heard a version of that scream a thousand times before, although it had always been playful before. This time, though, it was dead serious. Life or death serious.

"Hania!" you screamed, going for the stairs. You heard Kizami yell your name and run after you, but your adrenaline had started pumping, so you were running as fast as you could. You could feel that Kizami wasn't far behind you, but he never caught up.

As you came to the last few stairs, Hania screamed again, causing you to jump to the bottom of the stairs. The bottom of your feet stung when you hit the ground, but you barely noticed it. As you came out of the stairwell, you turned to your left, where you'd heard Hania's shout.

There she was, running toward you. She was about halfway down the hallway and she looked terrified. Her long, red hair looked disheveled as it swung back and forth with the motion of her footsteps. When she saw you, she yelled, "[Name]! RUUUUN!"

It didn't matter what she said, though, you weren't going anywhere, not now that you'd found her. You took a few steps forward, wanting more than anything to hug her. You heard Kizami's footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs just as Hania was a few feet from you.

You closed your eyes, bracing for her impact. A dull _thwack _followed by a splatter sounded in the air just before Hania fell into your arms. But something was wrong – she wasn't hugging you back. Instead, she had gone limp in your arms, causing you to hold her up. Her head had come to rest on your shoulder. Maybe she'd passed out…?

You opened your eyes and looked down. The first thing you saw was the blood that pooled at the bottom of your feet. Your own blood ran cold as you looked at it, your mind going blank. In fact, it was as if your brain had simply stopped working. There wasn't a single thought there, not a single whisper of one.

Still without thinking, you pulled Hania's limp body away from yours, finding her surprisingly heavy. You could easily see the red liquid that leaked from her head, flowing all the way down to the floor. Just as your eyes were lifting up to her face, Kizami yelled out to you, "[Name]! Don't!"

But it was too late. You could clearly see the metal pipe that protruded from Hania's head. It had gone right through the back of her head and into her left eye. Her right eye looked up at you, lifeless, but with tears still in them. She was here in your arms, but she wasn't. She was…gone. _She was dead._

"No…" you whispered, clenching Hania in your hands. "Hania… No! _No!_"

Your scream echoed through the halls, drowning out any other sounds, if there were any. Your feet fell out from underneath you and you landed hard on your bottom, Hania's body leaning on you. Her blood dripped from her body and onto your legs, but you didn't care. You didn't care about anything. One of the people you loved most was gone…forever.

"Why?" you cried, tears flowing down your face.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped themselves under your arms and tried pulling you up. You resisted them, shaking back and forth violently.

"[Name]! Listen to me! We have to leave, right _now_!"

"No!" you yelled right back. "I can't leave her! Hania!"

With one hard yank, Kizami pulled you up off the ground and scooped you into his arms. You tried to flail around, but Kizami had a tight grip on you, holding your arms down at your sides. Your head poked around the right side of his body and you suddenly realized why he said you had to leave.

A blue glow had appeared in the hall behind Kizami, becoming brighter as it came closer. A little ghost girl – not the one you'd seen in your dream or earlier, but another one – came around the corner. She held a pair of scissors in her hand as she skipped over to Hania's body. Another ghost followed, one that was missing most of its head.

"Nice throw, Tokiko!" the one with the scissors laughed. "Not quite perfect, but close enough."

You took one last look at Hania's body as Kizami carried you away. She lay there, blood pooling around her as the ghost children bent over her.

_Hania…I'm sorry…_

And with that thought, Kizami entered the staircase and you never saw Hania again.

* * *

**Kizami**

I carried [Name] in my arms as I ran down the staircase. She barely weighed anything, she was so small. I didn't take the chance of turning around to see if the ghosts were following us; all I cared about was getting us to safety.

Once I made it to the bottom of the stairs, I ran around the corner and –

Stopped. There was a hallway going straight in front of me…one that hadn't been there before. I knew what awaited us if I turned left, so I went ahead and ran forward, knowing that anything – any _place _– that was new had to be where we went. We'd already searched the rest of the school for any other living being and came up short. Sort of.

The moment that pipe had gone through [Name's] friend's – Hania, as [Name] called her – head, I'd felt…enlightened. As her life snuffed out, I saw – _really saw _– who she was. A scared girl, frightened for her life. Of course, the death of her friend had left [Name] in a catatonic state, leaving me to protect her.

But I didn't mind. I knew I had to keep her safe, if only for a short time…

There was something different about [Name], but I needed to watch her more before I could determine what it was. One thing I already knew was different about her? I could stand her. As in, I didn't think of her as a nuisance, which most people were.

When I came upon her in the classroom she'd hid in before, I knew exactly what she was doing. She hadn't tripped - although she had lied pretty convincingly and probably would have fooled anyone else - and fallen on the corpse. No, she was intrigued by it, the same way I was intrigued.

And that made me want to see more of her.

I kept running until I reached a door I had never seen before. I pushed on it, as hard as that was with [Name] in my arms, and it surprisingly opened. I burst through the door, letting it shut behind me.

The rain was the first thing I noticed. It was pouring outside, so hard that it would probably soak me if I stepped out in it. Luckily, there was a roof hanging over the small walkway to another wing of the building, something I didn't know existed. But, for some reason, I had this nagging thought in my mind that I had been here before, explored this new building…

I shook my head and looked down at [Name]. She was staring up past my face, at the roof above us, but I could tell that she wasn't really seeing it. Her friend's death had completely taken her over, poor thing.

_Poor thing? _I thought. _Since when have you referred to _anyone _as "poor thing"?_

I shook my entire being this time, setting my head straight. I needed to get us to a hiding place, quickly. I ran forward again, putting [Name] down for a moment as I opened the doors to the 2nd wing. I had to hold her up as I did so or she would have fallen down. As soon as I had the doors open, I picked her back up and ran inside as fast as I could.

* * *

You didn't know when you'd fallen asleep. Actually, you had no idea that you'd fallen asleep until you woke up in a room you'd never seen before. You sat up, wiping the sleep from your eyes.

You were in what looked to be a bathroom, stalls lining the wall. There were a few sinks next to the stalls, but they all looked broken. You realized then just how thirsty you were.

_How did I get in a bathroom? _you wondered. _I don't remember ever seeing this room before…_

That's when everything came back to you.

"Hania," you whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. I wish you were here…" Putting your face in your hands, you began to sob. You stayed like this for a long time, letting the sorrow you felt gradually leave your body with your tears, but it never completely went away.

It wasn't until you felt so numb that you didn't think you could cry anymore that you noticed it. A thin mist had developed in the room, floating a few feet over the ground. As you watched, too tired and hurt to care, the mist turned into a fog so thick that you couldn't see through it. You could make out general shapes, but nothing more than that.

"Hania," you whimpered. "W-why did you have to go?"

It was soon so cold in the room that you began to feel it through your numbness. A shiver ran through your body, causing you to gasp. You were surprised to find that you could see your breath in the air.

Finally, your brain realized that you were in danger, but it was ultimately too late.

As you stood up to run to the door, something slimy wrapped around your ankle, pulling your leg out from underneath you. You hit the ground hard on your back, bouncing off the floor. This caused your head to whip back down at an alarming rate. You heard a crunch from the back of your head and felt your body go limp.

It was hard to think straight when you were in so much pain. You could tell that other parts of your body had felt the impact, but they were nothing compared to your head. You knew almost immediately that you had to have broken your skull.

Out of nowhere, a black, inky substance began to pool around you. You couldn't move, though, so you had no choice but to let it engulf you. You tried your hardest to look up and eventually you caught a peep just long enough to tell that the inky stuff was only pooling around you. It had to have stopped right above your head, from the looks of it. Glancing down, you saw that your feet were just in front of one of the stalls, which was where the black liquid was coming from.

Eventually, you could feel the slime all over your body, growing higher and higher by the second. As you finally realized that you were about to die, the ghost girl in the red dress appeared above you, her blue glow lighting up the room.

"This is your fate, you know," she whispered with a smile. "Maybe not this death, exactly, but it's your destiny to die in this school. I should know – I've watched every single time!"

There was now a metallic taste in the back of your throat. You knew without a doubt that it was your own blood.

The girl's smile became sympathetic. "You shouldn't feel bad about getting caught here. It happens to everyone who comes to this place – or, well, most of them. I'm a little sad that you're dying so quickly, though. I was really enjoying watching you and Kizami interact."

As soon as she mentioned his name, you mentally slapped yourself. As best you could at the moment, anyway. Kizami! You couldn't believe you'd forgotten about him. Then again, dealing with your best friend's death had been completely and utterly engulfing.

"Ki…za…mi!" You tried your hardest to call out to him, but your breath came out as a whisper.

The little ghost girl laughed. "There's no point in trying to call him now. He'll never hear you. Even if he did, I wouldn't let him through the door."

"Ki…za –" You tried to call out to him again, but the inky substance abruptly rose, a little of it going in your mouth.

"I told you. _He's. Not. Coming._" The little girl no longer wore her smile. She looked menacing, absolutely crazy. There was no doubt about it – she was enjoying watching you suffer. "But, you know…I had a really great idea earlier. I was thinking about trying it out… What the heck? Let's do it!"

The smile was back on her face, but you were barely paying any attention now. The slime had now engulfed your ears, making it extremely difficult to hear anything. Every time you opened your mouth to get a breath, it would fill with foul-tasting ink, causing you to choke. You would suffocate any minute now.

The little girl was now directly in front of your face. She looked like she was giving you instructions of some kind, but you had no idea. You couldn't hear her and it was hard to read her lips when she was so close. She must have become frustrated because she suddenly took hold of your jaw with both hands and stretched it open. This caused the ink that had come into your mouth to go down your throat.

It burned when it went down and not just a little bit. It was like drinking a really hot cup of soup, except about a million times worse. You could actually _feel _the skin on the inside of your throat burning away, swallowing it with the slime. You fought desperately to close your mouth, but the girl in the red dress wouldn't allow it. Soon, you could hear her again.

"Ah-ah-ah! You need to drink enough of it down for it to work!" She smiled down at you as if you were a child, trying not to take your medicine. "I know it hurts. It'll be over in a minute. Almost there…"

You absolutely _needed _to take a breath now or you'd drown on whatever this liquid was. Pretty soon you would inhale it into your lungs and you didn't want to think about what pain that would cause. If it had burned the skin on the inside of your throat off, who could tell what it would do to your lungs?

"Finished!"

The little girl let go of your jaw, allowing you to close it. Instead, though, you violently inhaled, every inch of your body shaking as you did. Once you'd caught up on oxygen, you noticed that you were no longer in pain. Able to move your limbs again, you brought a hand up to the back of your head. The damage – however bad it was – was gone! You were whole again.

The ghost girl laughed at the expression on your face. "That's right; your skull isn't broken anymore. I can do that." She winked at you. "Unfortunately, you can't remember anything I just told you. Phooey. Oh well." She reached out and touched your forehead with the tip of her finger.

Just as the blackness overtook your vision, you heard her whisper, "Sweet dreams."

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**As always, let me know what you thought :)**

**A new chapter will be up tomorrow!**


	5. Awake

**A/N: Sorry it took me so long to upload this chapter. It's been a long day.**

**I'd like to take a moment out to thank Codebreakeryuuki for all of your reviews. They help me keep going :)**

**As always, I don't own Corpse Party :(**

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Your eyes suddenly snapped open of their own accord. Without thinking about it, you immediately sat up, looking around for any danger.

Hands came to rest on your shoulders and you realized that you had been lying in someone's lap. You looked up and into the worried face of Kizami. "H-how did we get here?"

"You should probably lay back down for a moment," he replied, guiding your head back into his lap. "You passed out as I was carrying you. I thought I heard one of my classmates in this building, so I brought you in here and let you rest while I looked."

You looked around again, but there was no one else in the room. "You didn't find them?"

Kizami shook his head. "I found…his body." A shiver ran through Kizami, which in turn passed into you.

Without a second thought, you reached up and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him tightly. "I'm so sorry, Kizami."

He stiffened up, obviously not expecting you to hug him, but he didn't move. He allowed you to stay where you were for only a moment longer before pulling away. "How do you feel?" he asked, looking into your eyes.

But you couldn't concentrate on what he was saying. Instead, you finally noticed how close in proximity the two of you were. You were sitting on the floor, but you leaned to the side, resting your body on Kizami's legs so that you could look at him. You were practically in his lap! And the way he was staring at you, asking if you were okay… It made you melt inside.

You felt a dramatic increase in temperature on your cheeks and knew that you were blushing profusely. You looked to the floor, trying your hardest to let your hair hide your face. What had he asked again? Oh, right, how you were feeling…

"I'm okay. I'm good to keep going, if that's what you want," you replied, still looking at the floor.

Kizami put two fingers underneath your chin and turned your head to look at him. "I meant how you feel after…your friend…"

Right as he said it, the scene with Hania earlier replayed in your head. You remembered just how much relief and happiness you'd felt as you held Hania in your arms, only to be completely crushed when you realized…she'd died in your arms. For some reason, though, that crushing despair no longer resonated in your body. You were sad, yes, but it no longer suffocated you.

You knew that that was wrong, though. _What the hell is wrong with me? _you asked yourself. _My friend just died, but I can't get myself to feel much about it…_

"I'm okay. When I think about it, I actually feel like Hania is lucky. She's no longer stuck here and…she got to die in the arms of someone who loved her. That's more than what most of the victims in this place can say." You sounded completely confident as you said it, but you felt anything but confident on the inside. Something was very, very wrong. You hadn't meant to say _any _of that. It was like word vomit: it just came up and out without any thought from you.

Kizami's eyes widened as he stared at you in disbelief. Even though he barely knew you, you prayed he'd seen that something wasn't right. But, no. Instead, he quickly regained his composure and nodded. "That's a smart way of looking at things in this place. You'll survive that way."

You were completely shocked by his response, but your body stayed completely still and not a sound made its way out of your lips. You wanted to say something, but you couldn't, frozen in place. In the silence, Kizami added, "I'll have to try to adapt that way of thinking, too. Are you ready to keep looking through the school?"

You nodded. "I have this vague memory of us going outside and into another building… Is that where we are? In another building?"

Kizami rose to his feet and offered you his hand. You took it and stood up as he replied, "Yes. I'm surprised you remember; you looked like you were in a trance. I was worried about you."

You smiled up at him in response and, to your amazement, he grinned back. It was the largest smile you'd seen on his face this entire time. The two of you walked out into the hallway, Kizami keeping you behind him. He led you through a door that led to a staircase and your mind flashed back to the moment you'd jumped down the stairs, running after Hania's screams. Although you didn't want to go inside, your feet kept moving of their own accord.

As the two of you approached the stairs, you saw a corpse to the side. It looked to be a male, sprawled out on the ground. There was dried blood pooled around him in various spots and, looking up, a hole in the ceiling above. You assumed he'd fallen from the floor above. On the inside, you were a little freaked that you could examine a corpse so carefully and not be scared, but none of it showed on your outward appearance.

Just as you were about to look away and walk up the stairs, something gleamed near the corpse. You stopped, looking up at Kizami, who was only a few stairs ahead. "Wait. I saw something."

Kizami stopped and turned around, giving you a nod to go ahead. You took your time as you walked over to the body of the young man – who was a high school student, his ID attached to his jacket – and looked closely at the other side of his body, the one in shadow. Sticking through the top-right of his arm was a scalpel, blood dried on almost every spot of it. It was amazing that you'd even seen it gleam with how much blood was on it.

You reached out and, as carefully as you could, picked the corpse's arm up. It was a lot lighter than you expected it to be.

_What am I doing? _you suddenly thought. _I don't want to do this… Why can't I stop myself?!_

Your hand shook as you came to a stop, causing the corpse's arm to waver in the air.

_Now let it go… _You thought it over and over again, willing your hand to open, but nothing happened. _Release! Release!_

You gripped the dead man's arm so hard, you thought it might snap, but it stayed intact. For a moment, you thought your hand was about to obey you, your grip loosening, but it didn't. Instead, it tightened yet again, harder than before. It was almost as if your hand had a mind of its own…

Without another thought, you reached for the bottom of the scalpel with your empty hand, still holding up the arm. As you pulled the weapon out of the arm, big globs of blood that looked like jelly fell out and onto the floor. It sickened you and you wanted to throw up, but your stomach was a rock, unwavering.

Eventually, the sounds of tearing meat stopped as the scalpel came completely free of the corpse. You let go of the arm and stood back up, looking over the weapon. It was still very, very sharp.

"Good eye," Kizami said from the bottom of the stairs, surprising you.

You turned to look at him, holding the scalpel up. "Thanks. Would you mind if I kept it? It would really make me feel safer… Unless you need it…?"

He smiled. "No, you keep it. It could come in handy if we get separated."

You hadn't even thought of that. When you saw the weapon, you thought you could use it if you ran into a psycho in here or something, but realized Kizami was right. If you two got separated, this scalpel could mean life or death for you. "Alright. Let's get going then."

You started to walk up the stairs, but Kizami grabbed your arm, effectively stopping you. Without a word, he turned you toward him, looking at you intently. He glanced down at your skirt and…

_Oh, God. What…what is he doing? _you thought, your heart beginning to race. Kizami reached out and took the bottom of your skirt in his hands. With a hard tug, he ripped a small hole in it. Before you could say anything, he moved his hands over a little and tugged again, making another hole.

"W-what are you doing?" you asked, completely confused.

Without looking at you, he put his hand out and said, "Scalpel."

A small smile played on your lips as you saw an opening. "Yes, doctor."

Kizami looked up at you then and, just before he looked back down, you thought you saw him blushing. You did a little victory dance in your head, happy that you'd finally gotten past his defenses. Without another word, you lightly placed the scalpel in Kizami's outstretched hand. He slowly wrapped his fingers around it and slid it through the holes he'd torn in your skirt.

"Oh!" you exclaimed as you realized what was going on, blushing furiously. He'd made a pocket in your skirt for the scalpel. The holes were just big enough to allow it to go through them, but small enough that it stayed in place once left alone. It would also allow you to pull the scalpel out fast if you needed it. "Th-thank you."

Because you were a few steps above him, he had to look slightly up to see your face. Once he did, he raised an eyebrow and you realized that you were still blushing. It made you want to look away…but then it happened again…

Now you were definitely sure something was wrong with you. Every time you did something you hadn't meant to, it felt as if you were a passenger in your own body, watching everything that was happening but having no control. The same feeling came over you and you found yourself unable to move.

Instead, you raised an eyebrow right back at him, as if to say, _Yeah, I'm blushing. Got a problem with that?_

This obviously surprised Kizami – he hadn't expected you to be so forward. He looked flustered as a small smile played on his lips, his hand reaching for the stair railing as he kept his gaze on you. You took a step to the side, motioning up the stairs. "After you."

After another short pause, Kizami refocused and started making his way up the stairs. You smiled, biting your lower lip before tagging along. As the two of you made it up the stairs and into a large hall almost identical to the one downstairs, you got lost in your thoughts.

_Okay…let's think through this calmly. Calmly and rationally. I go into states where I can't control my actions. That's…gotta be shock, right? Yeah, that _has _to be it! That explains why I don't feel so sad about Hania's death anymore._

But deep down inside, you knew that wasn't the answer. What was happening to you wasn't something of the normal world; it was otherworldly, supernatural. You wouldn't admit it to yourself, but you knew you were in very bad, very _real _danger.

Coming into the second floor, you emerged in the large hallway. Nothing decorated the room except for a lonely sign on the wall…and a body. You couldn't help yourself as your eyes glanced over the corpse. It was fresh, not even smelling yet. It was a male with light brown to dark blonde hair. He lay on his back and would have looked like he were sleeping…if it weren't for the fact that half of his leg was gone.

There was a blood trail down the stairs that led to the body, so someone had obviously moved him. With as much blood as there was, he had to have died from either blood loss or the shock of having half a limb severed.

You were so shocked by the sight that it took you a minute to notice the uniform the corpse was wearing. You'd seen that color – a maroon, almost purple color – uniform somewhere before…

Your head snapped back to look at Kizami and noticed something. "Kizami?" He turned to look at you. "What happened to your jacket?"

You remembered him having the same color jacket with him when you woke up in the infirmary but it was nowhere to be seen now. Kizami looked down at his body, a furrow in his brow. "I must have put it down and left it somewhere. Why?"

You looked down, unsure as to how you should put this. "Well…that boy…" You pointed at the corpse. "That's the same color jacket as yours, right?"

Looking back up at him, you noticed him glance at the corpse and back at you. "Yes. He's one of my classmates, the one I told you about before. I don't know what happened to him."

Just when you opened your mouth to reply, you heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Kizami must have heard them at the same time because he reached out and grabbed you, pulling you to the corner of the room. He stood in front of you, effectively blocking you from anything coming.

It felt like an eternity passed as the footsteps came closer. You absentmindedly wrapped your hand around the scalpel's handle, just in case you needed to use it. You could only imagine how scary this would be if you didn't have Kizami or the scalpel and a shiver ran down your back.

Eventually, you heard whoever it was just a few feet away before they stopped. You couldn't see anything around Kizami, so you had to rely on your hearing. "A-are you friendly?"

You knew that voice! You moved Kizami over to the side a little with your hand and peeked your ahead around to see Ryota, your friend who was crushing on you. "Ryota?" you whispered.

Yes, that was definitely him. He'd taken his jacket off, like Yuuya, except his was tied around his waist. He wore an off-white button-up shirt and black slacks. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but some of his blonde hair fell out of it and hung in front of his face, slightly obscuring his blue eyes.

As soon as he saw you, a bright smile appeared on his face, even though his eyes still seemed sad. "[Name]!" Ryota came running toward you, but Kizami moved back into his way just before he got to you. Ryota jumped back, looking alarmed. "Who is this?"

"Kizami – "

"Yuuya," Kizami interrupted you, his voice hard. "And who are you?"

You slid out from behind Kizami with a little force. He seemed like he was _trying _to keep you from Ryota. "Kizami, this is – "

Once again, he interrupted you. "_Yuuya_. Call me Yuuya."

You felt that something was off about Kizami – er, Yuuya? – and didn't know why he was acting the way he was. "Oh. Um, _Yuuya_, this is Ryota, my friend and classmate." You turned back to Ryota, who immediately wrapped you in his arms. Instinctually, you did the same, sighing into his chest. It was nice to have someone from home with you.

"I'm so glad I – " Ryota suddenly pulled away from you, keeping you at arm's length and checking you over. "[Name]…how did you get here? You didn't make it to the park to do the charm."

"About that," you began, glancing at Yuuya. He was now leaning in the corner he'd hid you in earlier, watching you and Ryota interact. "I've had…the weirdest day. I dreamt of this place last night. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've been dreaming of this place for a while now, I just didn't know where _this _was and I couldn't remember the dream clearly when I woke up."

You explained why you'd been late this morning – was it even still the same day? You couldn't tell time in this place – to the park, how you'd told the police about your missing friends, and all of the events leading up to creepy old house on the dirt road. "I didn't want to go in, but I didn't want to miss the phone call, so I did. I followed the sound of the phone and answered it, but there was no one there. Then the mirror started shining and…"

You glanced over at Yuuya again. There was now a frown on his face and he was looking straight at you. You wondered if he would be mad if you told Ryota about the mirror experience the two of you had and the slow, barely perceptible shake of his head told you yes. "…and then I woke up here. I ran into Yuuya and we've been together ever since. He's been helping me."

Ryota turned over to Yuuya and said, "Yuuya – "

"Kizami," Yuuya replied. There was an edge to his voice. Did he not like Ryota? If so, why? At the confused expression on Ryota's face, Yuuya explained, "[Name] can call me Yuuya. I know her. I don't know _you_."

"Okay…" Ryota looked puzzled, but he shook it off. "Thank you for keeping [Name] safe, Kizami."

Yuuya looked back at you and said, "It was my pleasure."

A blush threatened to creep on your face, so you turned back to Ryota, barely concealing your smile. "Now, you tell me what happened, how you guys got here. And have you seen anyone else in here?"

Ryota had been keeping his eyes on Yuuya. He looked almost cautious, but that didn't make any sense. After a second, he looked back at you. "We did that charm Rio was talking about. We had to say…something, I can't remember exactly, and tear a paper doll. All I remember is doing the charm and then being here. I got here with Rio and Hania, but Rio got separated from us after an earthquake put a hole in the hallway between us.

"While Hania and I were looking for a way around the hole, a ghost appeared out of nowhere. It had a pipe in its hands and it hit me with it. Hania freaked out and picked up some debris from the ground before throwing it at the ghost. It went right through her…I think it was a girl ghost. Half of her head was missing."

Your blood ran cold. That sounded like the ghost that…killed Hania. Hania must have made her mad when she threw the debris at her… Ryota confirmed your thoughts.

"The ghost stopped hitting me and ran after Hania instead. I tried calling her back on me, but she didn't listen. That was the last time I saw Hania." Seeing the look on your face, Ryota reached out and put a hand on your shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

Being in the presence of another friend made the sadness you felt over the loss of Hania come back in full force. Tears began to pool in your eyes as you spoke. "Hania… She's dead. The ghost girl…threw a metal pipe and…it hit Hania in the head."

Ryota's eyes went wide and he did nothing but stare at you for a moment. When it finally hit him, he pulled you into his chest, holding you tight. "I can't believe it," he whispered.

As you sobbed into Ryota's chest, you heard a voice in the back of your head: _That's enough…_

Before you could wonder what it was, you found that you no longer felt sad. Your tears dried up as you stepped away from Ryota and looked up at him.

_Oh no, there's that feeling again. I don't want to be a passenger in my own body! Give it back!_

"But…I can't think about that, not right now. If I do, I don't think I'll ever make it out of this place," you said, trying to fight it and failing miserably.

Ryota nodded. "I understand. I saw a guy fall into a trap earlier and…well, that was bad enough. I can't imagine seeing a friend…" He let the sentence trail off, thinking of you. You suddenly wondered what would have happened between the two of you if Rio had never been around. Ryota was sweet, funny, and charming. And, yeah, he was pretty cute, too. On top of that, he was always thinking of you. You tried to imagine being a couple, but you'd been fighting against thinking of him that way for so long, you couldn't.

Yuuya suddenly came forward to stand near you and Ryota, forming a triangle. "We should get going. We've been here for too long." He immediately walked off, leaving you and Ryota to catch up.

"Give us a second?" you asked Ryota and he nodded, staying where he was as you caught up with Yuuya. You grabbed his arm to stop him as you did. "Yuuya? What's wrong? You seem upset."

He glanced back at Ryota before speaking. "I have a bad feeling about this. About _him_."

Your mouth opened, but nothing came out. You just couldn't understand how anyone would have a bad feeling about Ryota. He was one of the nicest guys you knew. "Ryota won't cause any trouble. I promise."

Yuuya stared at you for only a few seconds, but it felt much longer. Your palms started to sweat as you waited on Yuuya's answer. "Fine. We need to go."

He was definitely not happy, but you couldn't leave Ryota, so you waved him over. Once he started walking toward you, Yuuya went ahead to the hallway. You wondered just what was up with him.

The three of you walked into a longer and narrower hallway than before. It went both left and right, but it dead-ended toward the left and turned a corner to the right. Yuuya went right down the hallway, so you and Ryota followed.

"About how long has it been since you've seen Rio?" you asked as you walked, not liking the awkward silence between the three of you.

Ryota took a moment to think and answered, "If I had to guess, I'd say it's been about an hour or two? I'm really starting to worry about her. I've searched every inch of this building." The three of you reached the end of the hall, where it turned, and saw a room to the side. Ryota added, "That's an art room. The only interesting thing about it is that you can hear someone play the piano every now and then, but no one will be there when you walk in. It's creepy."

Yuuya nodded and started to turn the corner, but stopped short. You walked over next to him to peer down the hallway and realized why. There seemed to be some sort of room at the end of the hall, but it was blocked by a stockade of chairs and desks. There was no way either one of the boys could get through it, but…

"I might be able to get through those," you told them.

"Are you sure?"

The both of them had said it in unison and looked at each other. You thought they were having a stand-off of some kind, but told yourself you were imagining it.

"I'm sure." You looked down the hallway again. "I'll be right back. Wait for me here."

You started down the hallway, looking for an opening through the chairs and desks. It was because you were so focused on the stockade that you didn't notice the rope on the floor. You heard one of the guys say something you couldn't make out just before you heard footsteps running after you. It was then that you were yanked up off the ground by your ankle. The next thing you knew, you were upside-down and going straight up to the ceiling…

…and then you stopped.

There were hands wrapped around your waist, pulling you down. It was Yuuya who was holding you.

"Get me…down from…here!" you exclaimed, the blood rushing down to your head. You were starting to see stars.

Ryota was suddenly at your other side, helping hold you in place. Yuuya pulled a knife out of his pocket and began cutting at the rope. As he did, it pulled on your now-sore ankle, causing you to hiss. "You're hurting her," Ryota told Yuuya, shooting him an angry glare.

"I'm trying to _save _her," Yuuya replied, still hacking away at the rope. "I can't help it if she gets a little hurt in the process."

"I'm fine," you murmured, but you were feeling woozy. Your eyes began to droop and you found it hard to open them again. If they didn't get you down soon, you'd probably pass out. "Just get me down."

The two of them kept speaking, but you didn't hear a word they said. There was a rushing sound in your ears, effectively blocking out all other sound. Your eyes were now closed and they wouldn't open, no matter how hard you tried. Just when you thought you would pass out, you were suddenly falling.

Someone caught you before you hit the ground. Giving yourself a second to let your blood even out again, you opened your eyes to find that you were in Yuuya's arms. He was looking at you as if you might break. "Are you okay?"

"I am," you breathed and leaned back in his arms, feeling light as a cloud. You'd once snuck an entire glass of whiskey from your mother's alcohol stash, getting completely hammered. You felt a lot like that right now, only not as out of it. You looked back at Yuuya and cupped the side of his face in your hand without even thinking about it. "Because of you."

The two of you looked at each other and you didn't know about him, but the world disappeared for you. How many times had he saved your life? Where had this amazing man come from? You realized then that you had a little more than a crush on him.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cough. You looked up to find Ryota standing there, looking down at you in concern. "Are you alright to stand?" he asked.

You nodded and Yuuya picked you up to set you on your feet. You wavered a little when he let you go, but you were fine. Your ankle did hurt a little, but it wasn't that bad. "I'm good to go. Thank you, both of you."

Before either one of them could say a word, you began walking down the hall again. They both called after you, so you turned to look at them.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Ryota asked.

Yuuya rolled his eyes at Ryota. "Of course she can. [Name] is strong."

Ryota crossed his arms and looked Yuuya right in the face, challenging him. "And how long have you known her? Five seconds? I've known [Name] almost my entire life. She might have some trouble doing this, especially after she fell into that trap."

"Excuse me?!" you exclaimed and Ryota looked back at you. "For your information, I _can _and _am _doing this. Maybe you don't know me as well as you think."

Ryota looked hurt, but you didn't care. Was he saying you were weak? Is that really how he thought of you? _If so, _you thought, _I'll show him he's wrong._ You started walking briskly down the hallway again, noticing for the first time what would have happened if Yuuya hadn't held you down when you fell into the trap. There was a blade screwed into a beam on the ceiling, the rope leading right to it. You would have lost your foot. A shiver ran through you, but you didn't stop, determined to make a point.

You found it was rather easy to maneuver around the desks and chairs, as long as you paid attention to your surroundings. Every now and then, you'd hear the guys ask if you were okay and tell them you were fine. Finally, you made it through the debris and into the room…

Which turned out to be another stairwell. You shivered, not liking the silence in the place. You knew that for the rest of your life, you'd always have a problem with stairwells. "It's just a stairwell!" you yelled back to Yuuya and Ryota. They yelled something back, but you couldn't make out what they were saying.

Just as you were going to crawl back through the stockade, the ground began to shake violently. The building shook so hard that you couldn't stand up and found yourself in a heap on the floor. You leaned up against the stairs railing as you waited for the quake to pass.

When it finally did, you made your way back to the stockade, but your worst fears were realized. The earthquake had dislodged multiple chairs and desks, leaving no path back to the hallway. You called for both Ryota and Yuuya, but there was no response.

You were all alone.

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**Oooh, now you're all alone in Heavenly Host! Who knows what horrors await!**

**Take a guess in the review section if you'd like :)**


	6. Red

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update yesterday, I had a super busy day and just wasn't able to get on. But to make up for it, I've decided to put up a pretty long chapter :)**

**And thank you for your reviews. I'm really happy that you're enjoying the story.**

**You know the drill: I don't own Corpse Party. Now sit back and feast your eyes!**

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It seemed like it took you forever to get back to the spot you'd last seen Yuuya and Ryota and they weren't even there. The stairwell you were in had led back to the first floor of the building and, from there, you were able to make your way back here. It only felt like it took so long because you'd been scared out of your mind the whole time. This was truly the first time you'd wandered these halls alone.

Knowing what was in these halls, seeing what the one of the traps had done to Yuuya's classmate… You couldn't keep yourself from wondering what you would look like when you were dead. What would happen to you? Would it happen in this school?

You gave yourself a shake as you made it back to the main stairwell. The only choice you had was up. If they weren't on the third floor, you had no idea where Ryota and Yuuya were. You tried to give yourself a pep talk as you made your way up the stairs, but when you came across another corpse, all that optimism flew away.

It made you sad more than scared that the corpses were normal to you now. _How can a place like this even exist? How can such a simple charm wreak so much havoc, kill so many people?_

It was a male high school student. You bent down to read his nametag: Sakutaro Morishige. You had this surreal feeling that his death had only happened a short while ago. Curiosity had you reach out and lay your hand on his back, which was facing up.

You quickly jerked your hand back and cradled it in front of you. He was still warm!

_He had to have died just a few minutes before I walked in here… Wait – does that mean…?_

You quickly observed your environment, checking for any immediate threat. Whatever or whoever had killed this guy might still be around and you didn't want it finding you. You slowly crept the second half of the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible.

When you reached the top, you saw no one. This hall was completely empty. Your heart began to sink as you realized there was only one room on this floor, giving you a less likely chance of finding Ryota or Yuuya. You slowly walked over and gripped the door's knob. It surprisingly turned in your hand, but the door wouldn't open when you pushed on it. You tried pulling instead, thinking it might swing out, but nothing happened.

You turned to lean against the wall next to the door, closing your eyes.

_What now? Where do I go?_

Almost as if your thoughts had been heard, you heard the sound of an intercom turning on. It was strange because you didn't see any speakers anywhere, so you didn't know where it was coming from.

"[Last Name] [First Name]," the intercom rang out. You'd heard that voice before. It was the little girl in the red dress. "You are needed at the pool. Again, [Last Name] [First Name], you are needed at the pool."

There was pool here? You'd never seen it before. In any case, you figured it would be outside. For a moment, you debated whether or not you should actually go – it might be a trap, after all – but you looked around again and realized you didn't know what else to do. And what if it wasn't a trick? What if one of your friends was at the pool and needed your help?

Your mind spun as you began running down the stairs, not paying attention to the corpses that littered them. It didn't take you long to reach the first floor and run to the entranceway. Once you were outside, you decided to jump over the railing and go around the building instead of going through it. Although you didn't know what awaited you outside, you actually felt better taking the unknown route than taking the one you knew had traps, more corpses(possibly those of your friends), and ghosts.

So you ran around the back of the main building, being careful of where you stepped. You were almost immediately drenched by the pouring rain, but you could care less. Water was the least of your worries.

As you rounded the corner of the building, you saw a skeleton sprawled out on the ground. There were only scraps of fabric left where its clothes should have been and what looked like some sort of spike protruded through its chest. The sight was so awful that you stopped and bent down toward it.

"What…happened to you?" you whispered. Your eyes became wet as you thought of what this person might have felt, what they thought as they died. "It had to have been horrible…"

A sound like that of a flame coming to life filled your ears, surprising you so badly that you fell backward. When you looked back up, there was a light blue flame hovering over the skeleton.

_It was… _You gasped as you heard a female voice inside your head. _I was in agony…_

"Wh-who are y-you?!" you exclaimed, crawling backward a little. "How can I hear you in my mind?"

_That is how we must speak now, all of us who have died here. It is the only way we can speak. I am the spirit of this body – _my_ body. Do you really want to know what happened to me or were you just speaking aloud?_

You had no idea what to do. The wind began picking up, causing you to shiver. You wished like hell that Ryota, Yuuya, Rio, Mei, _anyone _was with you right now. Rubbing your arms for warmth, you finally mustered, "Would it help you? Telling me what happened?"

The sound of laughter filled your head. _Such regard for others isn't found so easily here. Try to remember to keep that attitude as you progress; it will keep the darkening away._

"Darkening?"

_Yes, the darkening. It is why I am dead right now. _There was a brief pause before the voice continued, telling you its story. _My friend and I woke up here together. It took us a little while to remember doing the charm, to realize that the charm was what had brought us here._

_ We made our way through every inch of this school, but we never found any of our other friends. We soon started to feel like we were being watched, so we stayed on the move constantly. My friend became tired, but she was so shaken up that she refused to stop and rest. I suggested we go outside, into the open, where we'd be able to see anyone watching us, and she agreed to do it._

_ There was a spike sticking out of the ground just on the other side of the railing. My friend picked it up and held it to her chest, saying that it made her feel better. I thought it was a good idea to keep it – it might help us defend ourselves, if it came down to it. But that turned out to be my biggest mistake ever._

_ I was following my friend around this very building, when she suddenly stopped. I peeked around her to see that one of our friends was dead on the ground, his head completely severed from his body. I was in shock as I looked down at him, so I didn't notice the shadow growing around my friend until it was too late._

_ She turned around and started laughing. _Laughing! _I had no idea what was going on and she was freaking me out. She started muttering things under her breath, words that I couldn't make out. I was going to run away, but she caught me by the shoulder and pinned me against this building, in the spot right behind you._

You turned around to look at the wall and found a shadow had appeared on it. You suddenly wondered if listening to this story was a good idea or not…

_I keep seeing her eyes… They were wide and filled with tears. If it hadn't been for the manic look on her face, I would've said she was in agony as she stared back at me. Before I could say anything to her, though, she brought the metal spike up and held it against my chest. The tip of it slightly dug into my skin, which made me begin to flail around, wondering what had happened to my friend._

The shadow on the wall was getting darker and darker. You were now convinced that you shouldn't stick around to hear the end of this story. "I-I'm sorry, but I…I gotta go!"

You took off as fast as you could around the building, but that didn't stop the voice inside your head.

_I wanted to ask her why she was doing it, why she was hurting me, but I never got the chance._

You slipped in some mud as you were running and fell face-first. It took you a moment to get up as you kept slipping in the mud every time you moved. All along, the voice proceeded with its story…

_Something happened to her. I don't know what it was, but her entire body stiffened and her head jerked back so she was looking at the sky. When she looked back at me, I knew without a doubt that I was no longer looking at my friend. Yes, I was looking at her body, but she was no longer in control of it._

As you finally escaped from the mud, you looked back at where the ghost's skeleton lay. Your eyes went wide, your heart began to thud in your chest, your palms became sweaty, and your mind went blank. An arm was making its way out of the wall, exactly where the shadow had once stood.

You began running again, yelling at the voice to shut up, but it wouldn't listen to you. You spotted a fence up ahead, surrounding what you hoped was the pool. You took one more quick peek behind you before taking off at it and found that the once-blue flame had begun to turn an orange-red color.

_She smiled at me as she thrust the spike through my heart._

Some sort of force pushed you down from behind and you hit the ground hard. All of the hairs on your body were now sticking up and you knew that wasn't a good sign. Without missing a beat, you pulled yourself back up and started running again, not even bothering to see what was behind you this time.

Turning the corner that led to the pool, you ran into something. You fell once again, this time on your butt, and thought, _This is it… I'm finally going to die here…_

But when you looked up, you found that you had run into some_one_. A young man with red hair and green eyes stared back at you, just as surprised to see you as you were to see him. He wore a black and white uniform that you had never seen before, making you wonder if he'd just arrived here or if he was just really good at hiding.

"Oh, I am so sorry! Are you okay?" he said as he bent down to help you up.

You took his offer and let him stand you up, shooting him a smile. "I'm fine, thanks." You turned around to look back at where you'd come from and a feeling of dread ran through your veins. Being here so long, you'd learned that your instincts are usually right and you should listen to them, so you turned back to the man and –

Backed away from him. He was stock-still, every one of his muscles locked up. His eyes stared blankly ahead and he soon began to twitch. You slowly realized that he looked a lot like what you thought the ghost's friend had looked like when she became possessed…

You had no idea what to do. If you went back the way you came, you'd run into that ghost again, which you knew wouldn't end well. But the man was blocking your only other way and who knew what he'd do to you? You decided you had to take a chance and move _now_.

Being very careful not to touch him, you moved around the red-headed guy, hoping he wouldn't come to until you were long gone. But you should've known better.

Just as you thought you were home free, his hand reached out and grabbed your arm. Although the guy looked small, he had a surprising amount of force, whipping you backward and running you right into his chest. You tried to fight him off, but there was no use; he was just too strong.

He wrapped his arms around you and backed you up against the building. You quickly looked around to see if there were any spikes around, but you didn't see any.

_Oh, God, please… Please help me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! _you shrieked in your head, but no one was listening.

Suddenly, the man took your face in his hands, forcing you to look at him. "You are…exquisite," he whispered, shocking you. Before you could say anything, though, he came forward and crushed his lips against yours.

For a moment, you could do nothing but let him kiss you, wondering what the hell was going on. But then your brain kicked into action again and you pushed him hard on the chest, breaking your lips' contact with his.

"Oh…feisty," he whispered, looking hungry. He suddenly threw you down to the ground, in the same exact spot you'd fallen earlier after running into him. You landed on your stomach, but he grabbed both your arms and flipped you around. "I'm going to enjoy this."

And then it hit you. You knew exactly what this guy was going to do to you now and it scared you almost as much as the thought of dying did. At least if you died, you wouldn't have to remember bad experiences like this one.

He grabbed the top of your shirt and pulled in two directions, ripping it effortlessly. It didn't rip all the way down, just enough to where your cleavage could be seen. The guy eyed you as if he were a dog who hadn't eaten in weeks and you were filet mignon. He began to bring his head down…

"AHHHHH!" You let out the loudest scream you could, flailing around like crazy. You did it over and over again, your eyes closed the entire time. Scream, hit, flail, scream, hit, flail…

"You dirty little bitch," the guy hissed, bringing his hand up to cover your mouth. You tried your best to fight him, but it did no good. "You know what happens when you hit people? You get punished."

You opened your eyes and saw that he'd brought his fist up. When it started arching down toward your face, you closed your eyes again, not wanting to see the blow coming…

…and it never did.

The man was thrown up and away from you, but you didn't know how. You opened your eyes and got to your knees, turning around to see what had happened.

Ryota had the guy pinned to the ground on his back. The man fought back like crazy, but he wasn't going anywhere. With one quick punch to the face, Ryota knocked him out before standing up and catching his breath. Once he did, he quickly ran over to where you sat, bending down so he could see your face.

"[Name]?" He cupped your face to make you look at him. "Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

You looked into Ryota's eyes and everything became blurry. The tears began falling of their own accord as your body shook as hard as it ever had before. Without another word, Ryota wrapped you in his arms and pulled you close, letting you cry. You had no idea how long the two of you stayed like that, sitting on the ground, but you didn't care anymore. If you could, you'd stay like this for the rest of your life and feel content.

Sooner than you wanted, Ryota pulled away. He pulled off his jacket – even though it was soaked – and wrapped it around your shoulders before pulling you up off the ground. He'd said some things to you, but you hadn't heard any of it. You were too lost in your own thoughts.

_If he hadn't have shown up… If I hadn't screamed… I would have been…_

You couldn't even bring yourself to think of the word. You had a feeling that if you did, you would collapse right here and never get up again.

Realizing the state you were in, Ryota gently wrapped an arm around your shoulders and led you away, back around the building. He spoke to you every now and then, but you didn't hear anything he said. Your mind kept flashing back to the moment you were on the ground, that awful guy ripping your shirt open.

"[Name]."

Ryota spoke your name so seriously that you looked up. The two of you had made it passed the remains of the ghost you spoke with earlier and were standing at the outside walkway's railing. You looked at Ryota and said, "Yes?"

"Oh, thank God," he breathed, looking relieved. "I thought I'd lost you for a minute there. We have to get over the railing. Can you climb it by yourself or…?"

You slowly nodded and proceeded to climb over the railing, Ryota on your heels.

"So…" he began as the two of you walked toward the second wing. You don't know why you went that way, but you didn't care where you were as long as Ryota was with you. "What happened after we got separated? How'd you come to be out here?"

Ryota opened the building's door and waved you through. "I, uh…" You struggled to remember. "I looked for you and Yuuya. I went all over the building, but I couldn't find you. And then…then there was an announcement, calling me to the pool."

"An announcement?"

You nodded. "I don't know where it came from. I haven't seen any speakers around, but I don't think that matters here."

The two of you had just made it through the west hall and into the stairwell when you heard a loud bang behind you. In unison, you and Ryota stopped to look the direction the noise had come from before exchanging glances.

"What do you think that was?" you asked.

Ryota sighed as he looked at you. He looked totally exhausted and you didn't blame him. Just being in this place was tiring. "It sounded like a door slamming. You think someone came in after us?"

You gasped as an idea raced through your mind. "Oh my God. Ryota, you don't think that guy woke up…?"

His eyes widened and he quickly grabbed your hand. "Come on."

When Ryota kept running past the second floor, you asked, "Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going to hide you upstairs and go back to check it out," he answered, still leading you up the staircase. "I won't leave you alone for long." You reached the 3rd floor and he let go of your hand once you were in the hall. "Wait right here."

Ryota ran off before you could say anything. Looking around, you remembered that this was the floor with the one locked room in it. There was no place for you to hide if anything dangerous found you.

Just as you were thinking that, Ryota came back up the stairs, running over to you. You were surprised that he'd made it back that fast. When he saw the confused look on your face, he explained, "I got lucky and was able to see him entering the staircase from the second floor. It's a large man, but there's something wrong with him. He almost looks like a zombie…and he's carrying around a huge hammer."

"Well, what do we do?"

Ryota ran over to the only room on this floor and turned the doorknob. It turned, just like it had before, and when he pushed on it – to your amazement – it opened. He waved you into the room and followed close behind.

The room was completely dark, so dark that you couldn't see a thing. A whimper wound its way up your throat without you meaning it to and Ryota pulled you close in response. You looked up at where you thought Ryota's face would be and whispered, "I'm really scared. I don't know how much more of this I can handle."

"It's all going to be okay, I promise," he replied. Without a warning, he pulled you into his arms again and held you there. "[Name], I don't know what's going to happen or even what's going on right now, but I do know that I'm going to get you out of here. You won't die in this place, not on my watch."

His voice had gone so soft, it was amazing that you'd even heard him. You knew at that moment that Ryota didn't just have a crush on you; he _really _liked…or maybe even loved you. You had no idea what to say. You were touched and felt like you _wanted _to like him the same way, but…

Before you could say anything, though, another voice rang out just before the lights came on.

"I'm afraid you're wrong," Rio said, coming out from around a bookshelf you hadn't even known was there. She was holding a screwdriver in her hand, the tip covered in blood.

"Rio?" Ryota said, eyeing her cautiously. You noticed he still didn't let you go. "I've been looking _everywhere _for you. What have you been doing in here?"

Rio waved a hand in the air, brushing his question away. "It doesn't matter. Now, Ryota, step away from _her_." There was obvious malice in her voice when she said _her_, which of course meant _you_.

"What are you talking about?" Ryota asked. "Rio…what are you doing with that screwdriver?"

"Rio," you whispered as she came closer. "Don't do this."

Her eyes shone red as she bored holes in your face with them. "You gave me no choice!" she yelled. "You heard what he said. If I don't get rid of you…"

You knew what was about to happen before it did, so you took action. You shoved Ryota away from you, causing him to fall against the door. As you did, Rio took a stab at you with the screwdriver. You narrowly dodged it, quickly running behind Rio and further into the room.

There was a desk toward the back of the room. You darted toward it, running behind it so you could put some distance between yourself and Rio. As expected, Rio ran after you, taking a stance on the other side of the desk.

"There's no point in running," Rio whispered, her eyes wide. You could tell that this wasn't her. What was it that ghost had told you about earlier…? Darkening? "You're going to die in this school, either by my hand or the ghosts'."

Instead of going around the desk like you thought she would, Rio leaped over it, going straight for your throat. The two of you fell backward, Rio on top of you. She quickly lifted the screwdriver in the air. You threw your hands up in front of you, the only thing you could think of to defend yourself, but it turned out that you didn't need to. Rio's blow never came.

You looked up to see that Ryota had followed the two of you and had Rio's arms in his hands, stopping her. "Rio! What in the hell are you _doing_?!"

Rio struggled against him, trying to get away, but Ryota wasn't letting go. "It's the only way!" she yelled. "The only way!"

"What?!" Ryota yelled right back at her. "What is 'the only way'?!"

Rio stopped struggling and looked up at Ryota. She seemed to have calmed down. "The only way to get you to love me."

Although Rio looked calm now, you knew better. From everything you'd seen in this school, things always seemed calm right before everything went to hell. So even though you didn't want to draw any attention to yourself, you rolled over. Ryota must have been surprised by Rio's answer because his grip on her slacked and she tumbled down to the floor.

You got up as fast as you could and tried to run, but Rio had regained her composure faster than you and grabbed your bad ankle. You fell back down, hitting your head so hard you saw stars.

Suddenly, the door to the room flew open, a figure standing in it. Before they stepped in the light so you could see who it was, though, your hand burst into an unbearable pain.

"AHHHH!" You screamed at the top of your lungs. You looked down at your right hand, which was down near your stomach. Your mind went completely blank as you saw the screwdriver that went right through your hand, pinning it to the ground.

"Hold still!"

You'd felt like you were about to pass out, but the sound of Yuuya's voice brought you back. He knelt down next to you, examining your hand. "This is going to hurt," he whispered just before he grabbed the screwdriver and yanked it up, out of your hand.

This time you didn't scream. It was like the pain was so overpowering that you _couldn't _scream. Instead, you curled your lips inward and bit down as hard as you could, riding the wave of pain to its end. Finally, it stopped its constant burning and began to slowly throb. You could do nothing but lay there as you caught your breath.

When you came back to reality, you could hear Rio yelling behind you, but you weren't listening to what she was saying. You turned over to look at Yuuya, who was on his knees next to you, ripping Ryota's jacket in strips. As he reached out for your hand, he glanced at you, a question in his eyes. You silently nodded, giving him the go-ahead.

When he touched your hand, a surge of pain ran through you, making you groan. His touch was light as a feather, but it didn't matter. _Any _amount of force on your hand was agony. You tried to control your breathing as he wrapped your hand in the jacket strips, finding that holding your breath helped dull the pain.

When Yuuya was finished, your hand was still throbbing, but not nearly as bad as it had been before. You were just happy that you never had to see the hole in your hand.

"What happened?" Yuuya asked you, glancing back at Rio – who was in Ryota's arms, pinned down – before looking back at you.

You sat up and took a deep breath. Every time Rio came in your line of sight, a flash of red would appear before your eyes. When you would try to form the words in your mind, when you thought about what Rio had done to you, you had an urge to jump up and slap her, causing you to forget everything else.

And then you were a passenger again. Your entire body went cold and found you couldn't move.

_Not again…not now…_

You silently watched Yuuya get up and walk over to Ryota and Rio. The two of them managed to get Rio into a corner and tied her up with some rope. You had no idea where the rope had come from, but you were thankful for it.

Yuuya and Ryota continued speaking to each other, glancing over at you every now and then. As time went by, Yuuya looked more and more irritated, his voice growing louder and louder. Eventually, he was yelling at Ryota, who looked helpless.

You glanced down at your hand, wondering if there would be any permanent damage. The thought had you seeing red again. Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted the screwdriver lying on the ground, right next to the spot where it had once pinned your hand.

All on its own, your hand slowly snaked out toward the screwdriver. You tried to get it to stop – there was _no _way you wanted to hold that thing – but you were a passenger again, there was nothing you could do. As soon as you touched it, the world disappeared for a moment. Everything was bathed in a red light and all you could think about was the pain when the screwdriver had gone through your hand.

Your legs began to work, bringing you to your feet. You looked over at Yuuya and Ryota, who were still in a heated discussion, so they didn't notice you. Going as slow as possible so that you wouldn't make any noise, you made your way to the corner Rio was tied up in.

_Wait. What am I doing? Why am I going over here? Stop! Whoever is doing this to me, just stop! _you thought.

_…never…_

Okay, that did it. You knew that you were officially crazy. Voices in your head don't answer you unless you're crazy. So…what did anything matter to you anymore? If what you had seen in this place had caused you to go crazy, how would you ever be able to function in the normal world again?

Eventually, you came to stand right in front of Rio. When she noticed you, her eyes went wide, flicking back and forth between your face and the screwdriver in your hand. It was _her _turn to be scared. You felt an odd, haphazard smile light up your face and Rio's face went white in return.

"[Name]?"

Shit. Ryota had noticed you.

_It's now or never… _the voice that answered you earlier said in your head.

You didn't want to bring the screwdriver up. You fought like hell with all your might to stop it from happening, but there was nothing you could do. You were no longer in control of yourself. The only thing you could do was force yourself to close your eyes, so you did.

The crunching sound was the first thing you noticed. It was also a little wet sounding, which would explain why your hand was now wet. You slowly opened your eyes to see Rio's lifeless body sag, the screwdriver sticking out of the side of her skull.

* * *

**DUH DUH DUUUUHHHH! Haha.**

**So let me know what you think in a review please. Also, I'm trying to figure out how I want this story to end - a long time from now, so don't worry - and I have two different ideas. Let me know whether you'd enjoy reading a good ending, a bad ending, or both. If you want to read both, I'll post the endings and you vote for which one's best. That sound okay?**

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	7. Conflict

**A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry it took me a few days to get this chapter up. I wrote a one-shot the other day called "A New Promise," and that kept me from writing more of Eyes Wide Shut. And yesterday I had a migraine, so I slept most of the day. If you like Ayumi x Yoshiki stories, you should check out my other story :) It's the only other one I've written on FanFiction, so you can easily find it on my profile.  
**

**I am super sleepy as I write this, so please forgive any mistakes you find.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Corpse Party.**

* * *

_What have I done?_

You wanted to cry, but you began to laugh instead. It wasn't the humorous kind of laugh, either. No, it sounded completely insane, something that shouldn't be coming from your lips.

"NO!" Ryota pushed you out of the way and bent down in front of Rio's body, his hand flailing around in front of her as if he didn't know what to do. He turned back to you. "How could you do this? How could you _kill _her?!"

"_She _was going to kill _me_!" you yelled back at him, malice dripping from your words.

Ryota turned back to you, his eyes filled with tears. It tore at your heart to see him in such a state, but there wasn't anything you could do about it. "There's no coming back from this, [Name]." In your surprise at his answer, you didn't realize he was coming at you until it was too late. He pinned you up against the wall, looking right into your eyes. "Not for any of us."

Before you could reply, Ryota was jerked off of you and thrown across the room. Yuuya, taking a defensive stance in front of you, told him, "Don't you touch her. She's right; that girl would have killed her. She had to defend herself."

Ryota looked at Yuuya in amazement, his expression pleading. "Rio was tied up! She wouldn't – "

"It doesn't matter," Yuuya interrupted him. "Didn't you hear her murmuring to herself earlier? She'd gone off the deep end. You lost your friend before she died."

"God, help me…" Ryota whispered, putting his head in his hands.

Yuuya turned back to look at you. "You did what you had to."

"I know," you replied matter-of-factly, but on the inside you were screaming. _No, I didn't! Ryota is right. Rio was tied up… She was completely defenseless!_

_ That's enough!_

You jumped at the sound of another voice in your head. _What…?_

_ You need to let go and let me handle this, _the voice said. _It's the only way you'll make it out of here alive. Let me help you._

_ Wh-who are you? _you thought back.

_It doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I'm here to help you, but I can't do that unless you give me control. Believe me when I tell you that you are too weak for this. I was once like you and I died here. But I know what it takes to leave this place, now, and I want to help…_

A sharp ringing sounded in the distance, but it soon came closer and closer. As it did, your heart began beating hard in your chest and you felt light of breath. You took what you thought was a big gulp of air, but you felt like you were suffocating. The ringing became the only thing you could hear as you doubled over, the contents of your stomach heaving out of your body. It had odd splashes of black within it.

_That's it… _the voice whispered in the back of your mind. It sounded almost elated.

Your entire body seized up and you fell to the ground in absolute agony. You were sure you were going to die, that your body was ripping itself apart from the inside, but you weren't so lucky. You were vaguely aware of a person beside you, but you couldn't focus on them to tell who it was. Just when you saw red – when you thought you were taking your last breath – the pain disappeared.

Instead, the old you floated up and away while the new took control.

* * *

You opened your eyes to see Yuuya's face just inches from yours. "What are you doing?"

He jumped back, looking surprised for only a second before regaining his composure. "I was trying to see if you were alive. That was…quite a fit."

You sat up before getting to your feet, being careful not to step in the vomit that now lay in a puddle on the floor. "I'm fine," you murmured, twisting your neck left and right to pop it. You felt as if your entire body were in a knot. "So…what are we going to do about _him_?"

Yuuya's eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he looked over at Ryota, who was still sitting on the floor, his face buried in his hands. He wasn't even paying attention to the two of you anymore. "Uh…what do you mean?"

"Well, look at him," you replied, gesturing in his direction. "He's a mess. He'll slow us down or worse, get us killed. We need to decide whether we leave him or…" You shrugged as you looked right into Yuuya's eyes, hoping he'd catch on.

"Are you saying…what I think you're saying?" A small smile played on his lips and you knew you were right about him. You hadn't seen it earlier, but Yuuya was splattered with blood, the red flashing against his white shirt.

You nodded, biting your lower lip and smiling. "Yep."

A huge grin spread over his face as he slipped a rather large knife out of his pocket. The two of you walked over to Ryota at the same time, keeping perfect pace with each other. When Ryota lifted his face, when you saw how bright his eyes shone with tears in them, your stomach did a little flip of excitement. You didn't know whether you wanted to ruffle his hair or gouge those pretty eyes out.

"Ryota," you spoke slowly, sounding as innocent as possible. "You know I've always liked you. If it weren't for Rio, who knows where we would have gone? So that's why I'm going to give you a choice. You can either go off on your own and try to make it out there, or you can opt out. If you want this nightmare to end, just let us know…"

Ryota looked back and forth between the two of you, tears still running down his face. "Opt out?"

Yuuya laughed as if Ryota were a child asking trivial questions. "Basically, you can die now or you can die later. Which one will it be?" The knife glinted as Yuuya waved it in front of his face.

For a moment, you thought Ryota would cry again, but he just looked at the floor instead. He didn't speak, didn't make a sound as he thought. Just when you were about to tell him to make it snappy, he surprised you. He looked you right in the eyes as he said, "You know, I thought I knew you, [Name]. I had this idea that…you and I could get through this nightmare together. But now I see your true colors." He looked over at Yuuya, giving him a challenging stare. "And _he _is perfect for you."

You smiled. "Oh, sweetheart… Do you have a little green monster on your back?"

"No," he smiled right back at you. "I'm glad I dodged that bullet."

The smile wiped off of your face as your blood began to boil. Before you could say a thing, though, Yuuya flew forward and grabbed Ryota by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close. "Those will be the last words you ever speak." Ryota opened his mouth to reply, but he never got the chance. Yuuya pushed the knife up into Ryota's jaw. The blade sliced perfectly through his skin and muscle, coming out of Ryota's still gaping mouth. Yuuya had used so much force that he'd jerked Ryota clear off the ground.

You watched his eyes widen as the pain enveloped him, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Maybe you'd have a chance of dating me now. You're such a pretty mess." With that, you reached down and wiped some of his blood on your finger. Ryota stared over at your finger and you wondered what was going through his mind. The pain, most likely. "Goodnight."

Yuuya yanked the knife back out, letting Ryota fall to the ground. The two of you watched as Ryota's bloody breaths slowed, until he was dead. As soon as the light went out of his eyes, you turned around and walked off, never looking back.

* * *

You walked in the first floor of the main building, looking and listening for any signs of life, but there was nothing. You exchanged a glance with Yuuya as the two of you came upon a T in the hallway. Without a word, you turned right as he turned left, going directly to the only classroom this direction.

When you came to the door, you put your ear up to it, seeing if you could hear anything inside. You slowly opened the door, but stayed put outside, peering in. After a second, your eyes adjusted to the darkness and you assessed the room. Nothing but desks, cabinets, and a corpse – the same one you'd "tripped on" earlier.

You closed the door again and walked back to the middle of the hallway, finding Yuuya walking back toward you. "Nothing," you sighed, hoping he had better news, but he shook his head.

"The same," he murmured, sounding as disappointed as you were. "Why don't we take a break for a moment? The infirmary is just upstairs. We could lay on the cots."

For the first time in a while, you took a good look at Yuuya, noticing that he looked tired. Neither of you knew exactly how long he'd been in here and you'd both used a lot of energy. "That's probably a good idea. You look like you're about to fall flat off your feet. Come on," you answered, turning around.

"So…" Yuuya began as you walked to the staircase, which was back the way you'd come. For the first time, he seemed out of words. "I've never…never met anyone like you before. Like me."

"Okay?" you asked, wondering where he was going.

As you glanced back at him, he gave himself a shake. "It's just… I'm surprised, that's all."

He sounded as if he were disappointed, which made you turn around. His head was halfway turned down as he looked up at you, reminding you of a little boy. You smiled at him, feeling affectionate. "What is it? You can tell me. I promise, I'll listen."

"What…" His sentence trailed off as he looked at the ground, his expression puzzled. "You changed, after you passed out. You didn't _just _pass out, did you?"

His question threw you off, but your footsteps never wavered as you walked up the staircase. "I guess…the same thing that happened to you. I realized that I wouldn't survive this place if I didn't change, if I didn't accept this new reality."

Yuuya kept silent the rest of the walk to the second floor. As you did, the stench from earlier hit you, but it didn't bother you nearly as badly as before. The smell of rotting corpses was familiar to you now. "You know…I never did get to see what made this aroma…" You turned back to look at Yuuya, who was standing near the infirmary door. "I'll be right back."

He looked like he wanted to protest, but you walked off before he could. You could take care of yourself and even if you did need help, he was only a few feet down the hallway. When you saw how the hallway was shaped, though, you started to have your doubts about it. It wound back and forth, left and right, putting more distance between the two of you than you thought.

Just as you were about to turn around, though, you rounded the corner and found the corpse…if you could call it that. It was more like…a splatter. Meat, skin, organs; they all decorated the wall and floor, as if a person had been put into a giant blender. You were revolted and intrigued at the same time. How could something like _this _happen to someone here? Had it been some sort of trap?

Before you could take a closer look, alarm bells went off in your head as you felt someone watching you. You quickly scanned the area before turning around, almost expecting Yuuya to be standing behind you, but no one was there. You decided you'd been away from him for too long and started your way back.

When you came into view, Yuuya visibly relaxed and started to say something, but you had no time to listen. You were too focused on the giant, hammer-wielding creature coming up behind him. "Watch out!"

Just as the zombie-looking man brought his hammer up to bash Yuuya's head in, Yuuya ducked down and slid backward, effectively dodging the blow. He was now behind the large man, who sluggishly turned around, bringing the hammer up in the air again. You didn't even think about it; you took off into a sprint, throwing yourself into the air and onto the giant's back.

He let out a loud roar followed by a gurgling sound as he spun around, trying to buck you off. You held on as tightly as you could with your left hand while grabbing for the scalpel in your skirt with your right hand. Once you had a good grip on the handle, you yanked it out – ripping your skirt in the process – and jammed it right into the side of the zombie's neck.

He stood completely still for a moment, assessing the pain and surprising you. Then he let out an even louder roar before falling backwards on top of you. The force of the floor hitting your back while this man fell on top of you knocked the breath right out of your lungs. All you could do was desperately try to take a breath, but it was as if your lungs weren't expanding to let it in. As you fought for air, Yuuya came forward and grabbed the creature by the front of his shirt, pulling him up and throwing him into the wall.

Then all hell broke loose.

Before Yuuya could take another swing at the man, two ghost children appeared in front of him. You recognized the one with the scissors as one of Hania's murderers, but you'd never seen the other one before. It was a boy, probably around seven years old, like the other ghosts. He looked as if he didn't have any irises and blood slowly ran out of his mouth and down his jaw.

The two ghosts brought their hands up in front of them and…lifted Yuuya into the air. The little girl let out a giggle before making a pushing motion, causing half of Yuuya's body to turn toward the infirmary door behind him. The angle he was in looked painful.

You finally caught your breath and managed to stand up, if a little wobbly. As you looked at the scene, a flash of red appeared before your eyes, your blood boiling. You took off toward the ghosts, but you didn't make it very far.

You hadn't been paying attention to the zombie-looking guy, who had also gotten back to his feet. He slipped out from behind the ghosts and came at you, tackling you back to the ground. When your eyes opened again, you saw that the little ghost boy was slowly twisting his hands back and forth. Although you couldn't see Yuuya, you knew that the ghost was hurting him by his screams.

"No!" you yelled out. Both ghosts looked over at you, but their stares were cut off when the man who'd tackled you sat up. "Take me instead!" Right after you'd spoken the words, the large man lifted the hammer and swung it back down, striking your leg, just above your knee. Although it hurt like hell, you ground your teeth together, holding the scream inside.

The man lifted the hammer again and you looked up in time to see it coming down at your face. All you could do was close your eyes again and wait for the blow…

…but it never came.

Opening your eyes again, you saw that the man was frozen in place, the hammer just centimeters from your face. You just looked at the blunt end of it for a moment, realizing just how close you'd come to death…again. Then you noticed that the hammer-wielding beast was no longer looking at you. Instead, he was looking past you, down the hallway.

Although you wanted to turn around and see what had gained his attention, you stayed stock-still, feeling in your bones that any movement on your part would remind him of your presence. After what felt like an eternity, the man slowly stood up and began walking down the hallway.

You didn't bother turning to watch him. If he came back, you would be toast anyway. There was no way you could walk on the leg he'd hit with the hammer. Even as you thought it, the spot on your leg throbbed furiously, but you didn't have time to check it.

You looked over at where Yuuya levitated, his body taking on a glow much like that of the ghosts. As your eyes made their way to the ghosts' faces, they turned to look at you and smiled before fading away.

Yuuya fell to the ground with a loud _plop! _Worried, you tried to get to your feet, but your leg screamed in pain and you fell back down. This time you did yell, grabbing the closest area to your wound you could without it hurting. Finally looking down at it, you saw that the hammer had torn skin off, leaving your leg bloody. The area around the wound was already turning purple.

"[Name]…" you thought you heard Yuuya murmur, but he was facing away from you, so you couldn't tell if he'd really spoken or not. You sat there staring at his back, waiting to see if he was awake or not. When he didn't move, you opened your mouth to speak, but you never got the chance.

Yuuya suddenly sat up, his hand going up to his neck, rubbing it. He groaned as he put his hands on the ground and twisted, stretching. When he did, he looked behind him, his eyes widening as he caught a glimpse of you. He sprung to his feet, wobbling a little before making his way to you and falling to the floor next to you. "Are you okay? What did he do?"

"My leg…" You gestured at it. "He hit me with the hammer, just above my knee. It's…in pretty bad shape."

He took a moment to examine the wound as he caught his breath. Without a word, Yuuya stood back up and leaned down to wrap an arm around you. "You know how this works," he murmured before lifting you up.

Stars danced before your eyes as you stood, the pain of standing taking over your body. You let out a small moan and Yuuya glanced at you in response, trying to gauge your pain by looking at your face. You waved your free hand at him as if to say, "It's nothing." With a nod, he took a slow step, being extremely gentle with you.

"Well…we need to practice," you laughed, trying to take your mind off the pain. "We got our asses handed to us."

Yuuya shook his head, a small smile on his lips. "We did alright…" You arched an eyebrow in disbelief and he finally laughed. "Okay, yeah, we could use some work."

When the two of you made it to the infirmary door, Yuuya leaned you up against the wall while he opened it. Wrapping you back under his arm, he warned you to watch out for a hole right in front of the door. It took some maneuvering, but you finally managed to get around it.

"Alright," Yuuya breathed, coming into the room and closing the door behind him. He quickly scooped you up off the ground and brought you to one of the cots, setting you down on it. "Let's take a look at that knee."

As he bent over your wound, examining it, you breathed, "I'll be fine. It's nothing I can't live with."

But Yuuya frowned, reaching out and delicately touching the space around your cut. Although he didn't apply much pressure, it hurt enough for you to wince. He got up and walked over the cabinet furthest from you. "I thought I saw…" he let the sentence trail off as he examined the shelves. "I guess it shouldn't surprise me. I thought there was a bottle of rubbing alcohol in this cabinet earlier, but I don't see it."

"That's okay," you replied, waving your hand. "I just need to rest. And from the looks of it, you do, too."

"I'll be fine," he tried to protest, but you gave him a stern look. For some reason, he looked away, his cheeks a soft pink. "Yes, I'm tired, but we can't rest at the same time. Someone needs to keep watch. You've just been wounded, so – "

You cut him off, your voice sharp. "I told you that I'm fine. I just need to stay off my leg for a little bit. You can sleep on that cot and I'll lie here, keeping guard while I rest my leg. It's that simple."

Yuuya stared back at you for what felt like a long time but was probably only a few seconds. With a quick nod of his head, he silently walked around to the cot beside you and sprawled out on top of it. You realized then that he was even more tired than you'd originally thought: he nearly fell asleep as soon as his head hit the mattress.

With Yuuya asleep, you had nothing to do but keep watch and stay awake, which was hard to do when it was so quiet. The cot beneath you was surprisingly comfortable, even if there wasn't a pillow. You decided to really take a look at your wound to see what the damage looked like. It would, at the very least, keep you from falling asleep.

To your surprise, the area around it had already begun to swell, turning a light purple. The middle of the wound consisted of an almost-perfect dark red circle, where the blunt end of the hammer had broken the skin. The bleeding had stopped – the cut wasn't deep at all, really – but the skin around the cut was still covered in dried blood, making it look worse than what it was. When you tried to bend your leg, a hot flash of pain would course throughout your body, especially your knee.

You were no fool – you knew this was bad. You looked over at Yuuya's sleeping form, his face so calm and peaceful and your heart swooned a bit, but your brain was saying something completely different.

_If I let this drag me down…if I can't walk anymore, _you thought, _then he'll consider me a weakness and he'll leave. I could probably make it in these halls on my own…but it doesn't hurt to have a partner…_

You decided that you _had _to do something about your leg. Biting your lip to stop any sound making its way through your lips, you slowly rose up off the cot. Each step you took toward the cabinet closest to you was absolute agony. You even began to see stars.

_Yes, _you thought, _this is really, _really _bad_.

When you made it to the cabinet, you leaned up against it for a moment, panting as you caught your breath. You'd been holding your breath the entire time you were walking and hadn't realized it. When you felt like you were okay to keep going, you pushed back from the cabinet and gazed in through its windows, looking at the contents.

It was mostly filled with dust, hair, and dead bugs, but you could make out something white in the back of the second shelf. Although it could have been anything, you decided you had to risk it and opened the cabinet before reaching inside. You could feel some of the hair in the cabinet wrapping around your fingers and a shiver went down your back. This was absolutely disgusting!

Finally, you felt something soft brush your fingertips. You grabbed a hold of it and pulled your hand out as quickly as possible. Long, black hairs floated down to the ground as you looked down to find you'd grabbed some bandages. Unfortunately, you'd grabbed half a handful of hair along with it and it was wrapped all around your fingers.

You held your arm out away from you and shook it, letting the loose hairs on your hand fall to the ground. Deciding you couldn't prop yourself up and get the rest of the hair off at the same time, you closed the cabinet and braced yourself for the walk back to the cot.

It seemed like the pain was even worse this time. You felt your hairline break out into a sweat as you tried to maintain the pain. When you made it to the mattress, you couldn't help but fall down on it, causing it to bounce. That, in turn, caused the cot that Yuuya slept on to shake. You held your breath as you watched him move, praying he wouldn't wake up. He turned over on his other side, now facing you, but his eyes never opened.

Once you felt confident he wouldn't wake up, you turned back to the hair-covered bandages in your hand. It took a little while to unwind all of it from your fingers and get the stray hairs sticking to the bandages off, but you managed to do it. Then you set to wrapping your leg as best you could, hoping it would help with pain so you could actually walk.

Surprisingly, it did feel better when you were done.

After that, there was nothing you could do except keep watch and daydream, which you did for what felt like hours. You started to feel like you were being hypnotized, your eyelids remaining closed longer and longer each time you blinked. Just when you were about to fall asleep, you felt something warm in your hand, bringing you back to consciousness.

You looked down to find that Yuuya was holding your hand in his sleep. Another shiver ran down your back, but it was warm this time, making you feel as if you were glowing. As you looked at his sleeping form, your heart felt as if it were melting, but your eyebrows furrowed. You didn't want to feel this way about Kizami. If you became attached to anyone in this place, it would be a detriment to you.

But that really didn't matter. One doesn't get to choose who or even where they fall in love; it just takes over and they have no choice but to adapt.

Without realizing it, you'd reached out and brushed a piece of hair out of his eyes so you could get a better look at him. That would have been fine, if it weren't for the fact that you absentmindedly squeezed the hand that held Yuuya's in it. His eyes snapped open in response and he immediately looked down at his hand…before looking up at you.

You had no idea what to do. You had never been in any kind of situation like this before and it amazed you at how scared you were. Giant zombie man comes to kill your friend? No problem, you can take him. Hot guy holds your hand? RUN!

"I-I, uh, you see…" you stammered, unable to pick out what you wanted to say. "You, uh, reached out and sort of grabbed my hand."

Yuuya looked down at your intertwined hands again, but he didn't move. Instead, he asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

You shrugged, unnerved that he was _still _holding your hand. "I don't know. Maybe a few hours. Hard to tell in this place."

"In any case," he began, sitting up. He still didn't pull his hand out of yours. "I feel rested enough. How is your leg?"

"I found some bandages in the cabinet over there," you explained, gesturing with your free hand at your now-bandaged leg. "So I wrapped it up and it feels a lot better now."

Yuuya grazed his fingers over the bandages, much like he'd done before. This time, though, it didn't hurt nearly as bad and you were able to keep your composure. It was a good thing you did, too, because he'd been inspecting your reaction the entire time. "Good. You should get some sleep, now, just in case. I'll keep watch."

You nodded, knowing you needed the rest. You expected Yuuya to let go of your hand, but he still held on to it, watching you. "Can I, uh, have my hand back?"

"Oh," he exclaimed, letting go of your hand. "Sorry."

You smiled up at him, amused at his reaction, before laying down, almost in a ball. Sleep had been calling you for a while now and you were happy to finally give in to it. But just as you were about to drift away, a draft flew through the room, sending a chill through you. You didn't open your eyes, but you felt the goose bumps raise up on your arms.

"Here," you heard Yuuya breathe right before you felt him wrap around you. You froze, having no idea what to do, but he never moved after that.

Realizing that he was just doing this to keep you warm, you smiled and said, "Thank you."

He didn't say anything in response and you really didn't need him to. Your entire body relaxed almost immediately and sleep wound its cord around you…

Just before you fell asleep, you heard him whisper, "No, thank _you_."

* * *

**Okay, so I know that Kizami seems a bit OOC at the moment, but that's because he's freaked about [Name]'s personality and he's trying to figure her out. I just wanted to let everyone know that so there wasn't any confusion. He's still a psycho, yes, but a flustered psycho at the moment :)**

**I'd love to hear what you think in a review!**


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